


Revenge

by XxXxDarkVampirexXxX



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, dead OCs, i don't know how to tag this without spoiling, mai's backstory is super AU, old fic redone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 36,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27518461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxXxDarkVampirexXxX/pseuds/XxXxDarkVampirexXxX
Summary: Have you ever wondered why Mai never talks about her family or her past? All she mentions is that her parents died when she was young. SPR takes on a case that'll finally shed some light on the girl's mysterious past. Are her parents really dead? Was she really an only child? How does their new client tie in with Mai's life? Just what is it that she's been hiding?
Relationships: Shibuya Kazuya/Taniyama Mai
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yo! Welcome or welcome back to Revenge. This was the first multi-chap fic I ever wrote, and shit did it show. Sixteen year old me had no fucking idea how to write properly, goddamn. Took me four years to write-was finished around 2015 or 2016 I believe, but I know this was in desperate need for fixing. So here we are near the end of the plague ridden year of 2020 and I've finally edited this thing. Well, edited may not be the right word. It's pretty much been rewritten at this point.
> 
> Very few plot differences-just got rid of a couple of things that were brought up that I forgot about and ultimately never used, and changed the order of a few things around. Got rid of a lot of make-out scenes too, sorry. They just didn't fit right. A lot of chapters have been left very short because of some of these changes, but the fic flows much better now and isn't filled with a million ellipses anymore!
> 
> I never read the light novel, and this was written before the other manga came out which explained more stuff, so don't expect anything revealed in that to be mentioned in this. Timeline is this happens after the Eugene reveal and after Naru returns from England. Also, Mai's backstory is HEAVILY AU! So sorry about the long AN, won't happen again, just needed to explain a few things.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or any of its characters...

"Mai, tea!"

The eighteen year old girl sighed heavily as her boss called out to her for his beloved drink, and she pushed herself to her feet, smoothing her skirt down as she stood.

While she walked into the little kitchenette, Mai found herself (once again) wondering if the guy ever drank anything else. That much tea couldn't _possibly_ be healthy!

Making a mental note to ask Lin about it at some point, Mai filled the kettle with water, set it onto the lit stove, and settled back against the counter to wait for it to heat, the motions precise and practised.

But as she waited, Mai's brow furrowed slightly in irritation. She really just wanted to go home. Mai tugged at the ends of her short, brown hair and fought not to yawn. She hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before, thanks to all the homework she'd had, and with both class and work today, Mai was utterly exhausted.

But there was more to it than just having too much work. Far more than just that. She just didn't like thinking about it.

Fortunately she didn't have to think on it, because the kettle sounded a moment later, and Mai was swift in getting back to work, finishing up her boss' tea, before preparing two cups of coffee-one for herself, and one for Lin, who was currently feeling an odd disdain for tea. But that was sure to pass soon enough. The same happened to her sometimes.

Mai went to him first, knocking on his office door politely before entering. "Lin-san, coffee," she announced, carefully handing him one of the mugs.

He accepted it from her with an expression that could almost pass as grateful, which told the girl he had really been needing the drink. "Arigatou, Mai-san," he said, a barely visible smile on his lips.

He had been making an effort to become warmer to her ever since returning from England, and it was a gesture Mai really appreciated. She was hardly the first person he would go to if he ever needed help, but she wasn't the last either, and surely that counted as something, right?

When Mai didn't smile at him in return however, Lin immediately realized that there was something wrong. "Mai-san? Are you ill? You are behaving...unlike yourself." It was partially a statement, and partially an observation.

Mai blinked, seemingly surprised by the words, but she brushed it off quickly. "It's nothing to worry about," she assured him rather vaguely. "I'm just tired-didn't sleep much last night-lots of homework. I'll be sure to head to bed early tonight."

Lin inclined his head and with his hair hiding half of his face, it was difficult to tell that his expression was one of concern. Mai was lying. He knew it. She had never been particularly skilled at it, and it certainly showed. It wasn't his business to pry, of course, but as he watched her leave the room, shutting the door behind her quietly, he couldn't help but wonder what was causing this strange behaviour…

Mai, meanwhile, went straight to her boss' office and knocked firmly, hoping he wasn't going to bitch at her. Today was just not a good day for that. She really wasn't in the mindset to deal with that sort of thing right now.

"Come in," came a prompt and cool response.

Mai entered the cave...office, and found its occupant seated behind his desk, going over a file, just like always. Was he in the middle of 'Oliver' mode now? Or was he in 'Kazuya' mode? It was always hard to differentiate between the two, even though they weren't identical.

Regardless, he would pretty much _always_ be in 'Naru' mode, in Mai's mind. After all, Oliver or Kazuya, he never did stop being a narcissistic, tea addicted, workaholic jerk...not that that stopped her from liking him or anything.

Smiling inwardly at her thoughts, Mai approached the wooden desk and moved some of the file folders aside to make room for the tea she had brought him, noting the mess and wondering what he was doing. It was rare for him to leave things strewn about like this. Naru was usually pretty meticulous about his stuff.

Deciding it was maybe best not to mention the mess right now, Mai chose to ask something else. "Is there anything you wanted me to do?"

"File those," said Naru, pointing at a large stack of papers sitting at the edge of the desk.

"Sure." Saying nothing more, Mai picked them up, bringing them up to her chest to ensure none of them slipped from her grasp, and left the office, closing the door and walking back over to her own desk in the lounge.

With her back turned, she didn't realize that just like Lin, Naru had been watching her exit as well, fully aware that something was wrong, but unsure of what exactly it was.

Setting the stack of papers down on her desk, Mai stretched languidly and then sat down with a long, drawn out sigh. Just a few more hours, she thought, grabbing the paper at the top of the stack. And then she could forget about it for one more year...

* * *

Mai had hardly made a dent in her filing when the little bell above the front door jingled lightly as it was pushed open. Mai looked round and caught sight of a man entering.

He was of an average height, his hair and eyes a nice brown, his face kind, and his clothing casual and neat. She doubted he was any older than forty five, give or take a couple of years.

Then she realized that since she didn't know him, he was probably a client, and quickly hurried to her feet and bowed, pulling up a fake, yet familiar smile. "May I help you?" she asked politely.

"Is this Shibuya Psychic Research?"

"It is, yes." It said so on the door, after all, but Mai wasn't going to be that rude. "Do you have an appointment?" Naru hadn't told her about it if he did, but that was typical of her young boss. And sure enough, the man nodded.

Mai bit back a sigh, had the man sit down, and had only taken a couple of steps towards Naru's door when she realized she had never asked for a name. She turned back and did so. The man smiled at that, and Mai had no idea why, but the sight...unsettled her a little bit.

"No need to apologize. My name is Hideki Kiyoshi."

Mai bowed again. "It's nice to meet you, Hideki-san, I'm Taniyama Mai. Just give me a minute, and I'll get my boss."

"Of course." And as Mai turned away, it was Kiyoshi who was left frowning at her back...

Soon enough, Mai, Naru, and Lin were all seated in the lounge with their client, Lin poised with his laptop, ready to take notes, as he always did. It was easier with him, since he was the fastest at the job and all.

"Good evening, Hideki-san. Shall we get to business?" Naru began without preamble.

Mai glanced at Naru, somewhat surprised at the show of...politeness. Even though he hadn't said much yet at all, it still sounded somewhat odd. Maybe this Kiyoshi guy was rich or something? Mai had no time to ask, for their client then began explaining just what he had been dealing with that had caused him to come to them for help.

"I've been in my house for a number of years now," Kiyoshi said, "and though I live alone, I'll often hear footsteps on the floor above me, or a door opening and then slamming shut on its own, even though there's no way for that to happen. Some of these doors have even locked on their own from the inside or outside, depending on whether I've been in or out of that room. I've also noticed cold spots, many of them, all throughout the house. It doesn't seem to matter how hot or cold it is outside, or whether the heat or air conditioner is on, they'll always be there."

Kiyoshi bit his bottom lip in thought and agitation, then continued. "When I have friends over, they often complain about getting sudden headaches, or even feeling nauseous. They seem to feel as if they're being watched and followed while in my house, and that once they leave the property, they immediately feel better as if none of it had happened."

No one said a word as he spoke, though Lin typed away rapidly. They remained silent even as their client sighed heavily, before going on in his explanation.

"Beyond all that, my dogs were killed."

Now _that_ certainly caught Naru's attention. His eyes widened ever so slightly, and he straightened even further in his seat, the expression on his face sharpening in focus. "Your dogs? What happened to them, exactly?"

"I'm not quite sure," Kiyoshi said in an offhand sort of voice, as if attempting to distance himself from the memories-either that or he truly didn't care about the incident. "I had two older dogs-male and female, and six puppies. Only one of the pups survived, and was taken in by a friend of mine for safety."

"Why was this one the only to survive what happened?" asked Mai curiously.

"She was outside with me, and the house was empty, other than the rest of the dogs. I heard sudden barking and whining, which was odd. When I went in to check, they were all dead. Some looked to have been stabbed or cut, others looked like they had been choked." He shook his head, and ran his fingers through his short hair in agitation.

"Has anything physical happened to you personally?"

"Yes. I've been pushed down the stairs a handful of times-I've managed to catch myself, luckily. I've found strange scratches and bruises on my body, generally on my arms and chest, and I'm positive they aren't being caused by something I'm doing to myself. I've been checked for vitamin deficiencies as well, and there are none." He hesitated, then added, "And there are times when I find myself in a room without having any idea or memory of how I ended up there in the first place."

He went on for a moment more, explaining a few more things, and when he fell silent, it took Naru only a few seconds to come to a decision on whether or not to accept the case.

"We'll need rooms," he said abruptly. "One will be necessary for our equipment. It would be preferable to have one for our team to sleep in as well."

Kiyoshi nodded. "That won't be a problem. It's a fairly large house, so there're plenty of rooms."

Dates and times were discussed and finalized, before their new client finally left SPR. Lin wasted no time in returning to his own office, no doubt to send Naru a copy of his notes. The boss, meanwhile, turned his attention to his younger assistant.

"Call everyone up, Mai. Tell them to be here by eight in the morning." With that, he made his way back to his office, and just before he shut the door behind him, called out a firm, "Tea!"

Mai waited until the door was closed before she released a sigh and got to work. There didn't seem to be anything odd about this case offhand, but even then, Mai couldn't help but feel that something stranger than usual was going to happen. She could only hope she wasn't going to be involved.

Agh, who was she kidding? She was definitely going to be involved. She always was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

_When Mai woke, it was in darkness. She stood up slowly, looking around, feeling very disoriented and confused. "Where am I?" she said out loud, not even realizing she had spoken._

_"Where you always end up during cases," said a familiar sounding voice._

_It took Mai all of two seconds to understand what was happening, and she spun around quickly, finding Eugene, or rather, his spirit, standing behind her. "Gene!" She wasn't able to stop the grin that crossed her face._

_Eugene smiled gently and brought Mai into a tight hug. "How've you been, Mai?"_

_"Busy," she said as she stepped back. Part of her wondered why Naru never behaved like this around her. She knew Gene's death had affected him greatly, but... Why had he rejected her after she had confessed to him? Why had he told her that she loved Gene and not him? Why did he tell her that she had been mistaking her feelings for him with his twin?_

_Mai_ did _love Gene, certainly, but it was a very different sort of love. He was a friend, a close friend who had helped and protected her throughout many dangerous cases and situations, and she trusted and loved him for it. But her feelings for Naru were entirely different. They were deeper, more complicated, more_ intense.

_"Anyway," said Mai, forcefully yanking herself out of her thoughts. "Why did you bring me here? We haven't even started the case yet."_

_"I wanted to give you a warning," said Gene, his smile turning into a concerned frown. "A warning, and some advice."_

_When Mai only peered up at him curiously, he elaborated. "There will come a time in this case when things will take a turn for the worse. Everything will change, everything will become stressful, and everything will become more than a little dangerous. For that, I am asking you to please try and keep the rest of the team in control and focused on what needs to be done."_

_Mai blinked slowly. "Okay," she said slowly, not fully understanding._

_"There's one more thing."_

_"What is it?"_

_"Mai, tell them all the truth. You'll know what I'm talking about when the time comes-maybe you already do, but please Mai, tell them the truth. They deserve to know it. You know that..."_

_Mai had no chance to say anything at all, because as soon as Eugene fell silent, he began to fade away and the girl knew her time here was up and she was waking. And sure enough-_

Mai suddenly woke in bed. Groaning, she sat up and stretched, checking the time before groaning a second time. She was late.

Jumping out of bed, Mai hurried to get ready, deliberately not thinking about what she had been told, but already sure she knew at least a bit of what Eugene had been referring to...

* * *

Luckily, Mai was only five minutes late in arriving outside of SPR's office, where their van and Bou-san's car were parked, packed, and waiting.

"You're late, Mai," Naru said in annoyance the second he saw her, his blue eyes narrowed.

"Well _sorry_ ," Mai found herself replying sarcastically. "It isn't _my_ fault _your_ dead twin brother likes to come give me cryptic warnings in my dreams whenever he feels like it."

Naru's eyes widened slightly. "Gene?" He took a step forward towards her, and then stopped just as abruptly. "What did he tell you?" he said intently.

Mai recounted the dream, though she left out the part where she had been told to tell the truth. Naru didn't need to know that, she told herself. No one did.

The others listened as she spoke, and then broke out into their own conversations once she had finished, all of them trying to figure out what exactly Gene had been talking about.

Naru, however, didn't participate in the conversation. He didn't even pull out his black notebook to write down what Mai had said. Instead, he kept his eyes on his young assistant. She was speaking to the others in what sounded like a casual tone, but it was obvious to him that she was refusing to make eye contact with anyone for longer than she strictly needed to.

She was hiding something. Hiding something from them. Hiding something from _him_.

"Mai-" Naru had barely finished saying the girl's name when Bou-san interrupted him inadvertently.

"Naru-bou, shouldn't we get going?"

Naru glanced up at the sun, then cursed under his breath as he made note of the time. They were definitely running late. With a few words, the group split into the two vehicles, Naru, Lin, and Masako heading off ahead of the rest of them, leaving Mai, Ayako, John, and Yasuhara to follow in Bou-san's car.

Having other obligations, Masako was actually only going to be there for the day, leaving in the evening. But that was fine, they would make do.

Though Mai would have preferred to ride with Naru, simply because of who he was, she had to admit that she wouldn't have wanted to miss this car ride for the world.

Yasuhara was sitting in the front next to the monk, who was driving, while poor John was stuck between Mai and Ayako, though even he appeared to be amused by what was taking place before them.

No, nothing at _all_ could beat _this_ ride.

Yasuhara was re-enacting a moment that had apparently taken place between his parents some time ago. He was clutching Bou-san's arm and kissing him on the cheek, while talking to him in an oddly suggestive yet...loving manner. Bou-san was trying to get away from him, but it wasn't like he could do much, seeing as he was driving and had no desire to get them into an accident. And as Yasuhara managed to press his lips to the man's neck, Bou-san jerked the steering wheel so hard he nearly crashed into SPR's van.

Mai couldn't stop laughing. In fact, she was laughing so hard her stomach was hurting, and she couldn't help but absently wonder if she'd cracked a rib or two...

"Do that again and I'll ban you from driving," Naru informed the monk coldly just a few minutes later when they had piled out outside of their client's house.

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Stop wasting time." Naru clearly had no desire to hear anything more, but that was probably to be expected. He was Naru, after all. "Mai, Lin, with me. The rest of you start taking equipment out of the van."

There were some mutters, though they mostly all did as told. Mai however, who had been feeling quite happy up until this point, felt her good mood being drained as she looked up at the large, western style house in front of her. There was something wrong here. Something terribly wrong...

"Mai!" Naru called out to her. "Stop stalling."

Mai nodded and followed after her boss and Lin, and entered the house. They were greeted by a hallway, and had barely taken a handful of steps down it when Mai heard a faint, but clear-

_"Mai-chan..."_

Mai turned to look behind her, where she had just heard the voice, but there was no one there. She turned back with a frown. "Did one of you just call my name?" she asked Naru and Lin, though she doubted it had been them. Neither of them called her 'Mai- _chan_ ', after all.

Both paused and turned around to look at her, shaking their heads in the negative. Neither of them had said a word since they had entered the house, not even to one another. Huh, weird. Mai was positive she had heard it. They continued down the hall.

_"Mai-chan..."_

Mai stopped and looked around again. _What the heck? I'm going crazy_ , she thought, her frown deepening. _There's no way I can be hearing this._

"Mai! Keep up!" Naru called impatiently, realizing his younger assistant had fallen behind again.

"R-right, sorry!" And the sound of Mai's hurried footsteps as she made to catch up to the other two ended up masking the sound of a young girl's voice.

_"Mai-nee…"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Ah, welcome," Kiyoshi greeted, meeting Naru, Lin, and Mai further down the hall. "I'm very glad you've come. Here, let me show you to the room you asked for."

The three SPR members followed the older man down a long hallway and into a rather spacious room that was furnished with a large rectangular table, a couch or two, and a few chairs. There was a tall bookshelf in one corner, entirely stacked with books, and at the back of the room, taking over half of the wall was a massive window covered by red curtains, which gave the room a strange, bloody glow.

"Wow, this room's huge!" Mai exclaimed, unable to help herself.

"I hope it'll be appropriate," said Kiyoshi with a small smile.

Naru merely inclined his head, glancing over at Mai who was currently bouncing around like a little kid. Except she was wearing a skirt. And still bouncing. And well, gravity certainly wasn't going to keep that skirt down with those movements, which meant Naru was left with a sight that nearly had him choking.

"Mai! Go help the others with the equipment!"

Mai finally went mostly still and turned around to look at him, curious at his sudden shortness, completely oblivious that while she'd been enjoying the view of the room, Naru had been treated to an enjoyable view of an entirely different kind. "Why?" she asked.

"Because I said so."

Mai huffed but didn't argue, leaving the room while she muttered under her breath. "Stupid narcissistic jerk. Why call me here and then send me back? What the heck's the point? Probably just changed his mind again. No, it's just withdrawal symptoms. He hasn't had tea in over an hour." Her mutters trailed off as she got further away from the room.

Mai hadn't gone all too far when she met up with the others, all of who (save for Masako, who didn't do menial labour, not even for Naru) were carrying equipment, and she pointed their new Base out to them before heading outside herself. There, she grabbed one of the monitors, and since that was all she could carry at once, returned inside the house.

_"Mai-chan..."_ came the soft voice of a boy.

_"Mai-nee..."_ followed the quiet voice of a girl.

Mai blinked in surprise as she came to an abrupt stop, nearly dropping the monitor she was holding. Those voices again... She frowned, eyes locked on the ground, but unseeing.

_Why am I the only one hearing them? And-and why do they sound like-like them? Please don't tell me this case is somehow related to that... Wait! What am I saying!? There's no way they can be involved! I mean, that happened years ago!_

"Ow!" Unaware that she had started walking again, Mai once more came to a stop and raised her head, coming face to face with Naru's chest. Oh. Cheeks heating, she quickly looked away. "S-sorry, Naru!"

"You really should be paying attention, Mai. You'll have to pay for that monitor if you break it."

Nope. She wasn't going to fall for _that_ bit again. Instead, she stuck her tongue out at him childishly as she passed by him. "You can't trick me with that again, Naru," she said proudly. "I know all the equipment's insured."

Naru simply smirked. "Glad to see you've finally caught on."

"Hmph!"

Naru couldn't help but smile slightly as he watched Mai walk away, her irritatingly short skirt swishing around her thighs. He sighed. How distracting. No, no, he had to focus. He-

"Naru?"

He snapped out of his thoughts, quickly realizing he had returned to the Base while he hadn't been paying attention, and now it appeared as if everyone was staring at him, Bou-san and Ayako laughing, and Mai standing before him with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

"Jeez," she said with a shake of her head. "And you say _I_ space out. Hideki-san's gonna show us to our rooms now. Did you hear him?"

No, he hadn't, though he pretended otherwise, allowing the older man to lead them out of the Base, through the house, and up the stairs. But they had barely reached the second floor's landing, when-

"Ah!"

Mai cried out suddenly, stumbling backwards and nearly off the stairs. The only reason she didn't fall was because Naru, who was right behind her, managed to grab her around the waist, securing her. The force of the stumble however, caused Naru to lose his own balance as well. Fortunately Lin was behind him, and he grabbed hold of both of them, preventing anyone from falling as he himself had a good grip on the banister.

Everyone steadied themselves, taking a moment to catch their breath, and it was only after Naru moved away that Mai realized that his arm had lingered around her for longer than should have been necessary. How strange. She was hardly going to complain about it though.

"Sorry!" she said instead. "I-um, I just tripped." She gave Naru a sidelong glance, silently telling him that there was more to what had just happened than her simply tripping, though she didn't really want to say so in front of their client.

Naru frowned at that, but they continued on following Kiyoshi for half a second longer, at which point they all came to a stop once more, and he turned to them with a smile.

"There are four bedrooms up here that you can use as you'd like. They're all furnished western style, like the rest of the house, so I'm sorry if that isn't to your liking. The main bathroom is that last door right there down the hall, and there's another attached to one of the bedrooms-that one there. My own room is downstairs in the short hall by the stairs.

"Feel free to help yourselves to the kitchen. It's well stocked, but I don't see that lasting for more than a couple of days with all of you here. I'd be happy to show you to the nearest stores if needed. Alright, if that's all, I'll leave you to it. I'll be downstairs if you need me." And with that, he turned and made his way back to the staircase, leaving them where they were.

A bit surprised by their client's sudden rush to get away from them, they chose to put it behind them and settled the room assignments.

"So, eight people, four rooms," said Ayako.

"Seven people," Naru corrected. "Hara-san will be leaving this evening, and will not be returning unless this case takes us an unnaturally long time to solve."

Well, in that case room assignments were simple enough. Naru and Lin were in one room, Bou-san, John, and Yasuhara in the second, and Mai and Ayako had the third.

With an odd number of them, there really wasn't much of a need to use the fourth room, especially if they wanted to avoid an argument about who's room that would end up being in the first place. And knowing Ayako, it would end up being hers, which would also leave Mai in a room of her own, and well, was that really a good idea when she was so...attack prone?

Once all of that was settled and they had put their bags away in their rooms, the team returned to the Base to actually begin talking about their investigation. Although it appeared there was something else they needed to discuss first.

"What happened on the stairs earlier, Mai?" said Naru, his eyes locked on his younger assistant.

"Someone pushed me," said Mai immediately, a concerned frown on her face. "As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I felt a-a hand on my chest, and it pushed me back pretty hard, hard enough I completely lost my balance."

"Were you able to see what pushed you?"

When Mai shook her head in the negative, Naru turned to Masako instead. "Have you sensed anything yet, Hara-san?"

Masako raised her kimono's sleeve up to her mouth, her brow creasing as she thought and focused. "There is...something here, something negative, but I cannot tell where it is located at this time."

Naru noted all of this down, then said, "Matsuzaki-san, accompany Hara-san on a walkthrough of the property. The quicker we get this done, the better." They didn't have time to waste if Masako was to leave in a few hours. "Mai, tea. Bou-san, go with her."

Those addressed left the room, and Mai and Bou-san found the kitchen, where the girl quickly began her usual duty of tea making. The monk watched her for a moment in silence, wondering how best to voice a particular thought that had been on his mind for a while now.

The way Mai and Naru had been behaving around one another recently had been kind of...odd. Mai had been mostly forcibly casual since Naru had returned from England, though she occasionally slipped up and acted normally by complaining or arguing or muttering about him.

Naru himself had been rather odd too. He still berated Mai, but not as often as he used to before, and it almost sounded...like he was joking. Not mocking, but joking. He watched Mai more now too, and then an expression of pain would cross his face, but only when he seemed to think no one was looking.

"Hey, Mai?"

"Hmm?"

"Is there...something going on between you and Naru-bou?"

Mai froze, then turned and began opening cupboard doors, searching for mugs. "Why would you ask that?"

The man's eyes widened in surprise. Mai's tone when she had spoken just now had sounded so...cold. Cold and uncaring. He had never heard her sound like that before. It was almost kind of alarming.

"Naru doesn't want to have anything to do with me beyond treating me like a slave anyway, so I don't think it matters."

Bou-san frowned. "That's not true," he protested quickly. "The kid's strict with you, sure, but he does it because he worries about you. He wants to protect you. He likes you."

Mai didn't seem to believe him though, because she released a rather bitter sounding laugh. "If he really liked me, he wouldn't have rejected m-" she clapped a hand over her mouth abruptly. Dammit. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. But it was too late anyway.

"He what!?" Bou-san's exclamation was so loud that Mai actually winced. "He-he-that-that-!" That didn't make any sense! It was obvious that Naru had feelings for Mai! That kid wasn't nearly as subtle as he thought he was- _everyone_ knew he liked Mai. And Mai _obviously_ liked him too, so why the hell had he turned her away?

Unfortunately for the monk, but fortunately for his friend, Bou-san didn't have time to ask, because Mai finished the tea up just a moment later, and the two of them made their way back to the Base, just in time to hear an irritated call for them to hurry up. And Mai had only just begun serving the tea when Ayako and Masako returned as well, the latter of the two looking rather pale.

Naru set down his cup and picked up his notebook. "Did you learn anything, Hara-san?"

"…Yes," said Masako with a slow nod. "There is definitely some sort of dark presence in this house. However, it is skilled at concealing itself. Because of that, I am unable to see it clearly. It is most certainly hiding here in this house, but I still cannot say where. I believe it understands my ability to some extent, and concealed itself to avoid me, because it-he, I think, is aware that I have the capability to find him. Aside from that, there are also the spirits of two children here on this property. There is a boy and a girl, though I know little more than that."

"Children?" John repeated, blue eyes wide in surprise. With everything Kiyoshi had told them was happening, none of them had thought to hear that there were child spirits around.

Masako however, nodded and raised her kimono sleeve up, hiding a look of pain. "They were murdered."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Gasps of surprise rang throughout the room. Mai's voice wasn't among them. Instead, she stepped back closer to the wall, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Murdered, huh? she thought with a frown. Had the two children been killed in this house or on this property, she wondered? Although, knowing when they had died was probably an important thing to figure out too.

Naru appeared to be thinking along the same lines, because he focused on Masako again. "Do you know when these children were alive or when they died?"

Masako shook her head. "I'm not sure if the children themselves are concealing things, or if it is the darker entity, but the closest I can tell is that they were alive and killed within the last thirty years. I cannot pinpoint it any closer than that."

Naru made note of that, and then looked over at Yasuhara and gestured at the large bookshelf in the corner of the room. "There are books on that shelf that seem to contain this house's history. See if you can find anything about the children, Yasuhara-san."

"Yes, boss!" With a nod and a salute, Yasuhara moved over to the bookshelf, scanned over a few of the titles, pulled a few of the books off the shelf, and then plopped down on the floor, beginning his search.

Silence fell as everyone in the room fell into variations of the same thoughts. They all wanted to know who the children were, how they had been killed, who had killed them, along with a fair few other things. Mai too had the same thoughts in mind, but there was something else she was thinking of as well.

"Naru?" she said suddenly, breaking the thick silence.

He looked up. "What is it?"

"Everything Hideki-san said happened to his friends... Couldn't those have been caused by high EMF readings?" she asked.

Naru and Lin exchanged a glance that betrayed surprise, as Yasuhara looked up from the book in his hands, confusion painted across his face. "EMF?" he repeated in question, Bou-san and Ayako looking just as confused.

Wondering whether Mai actually knew what she had just suggested, Naru gestured at her. "Care to explain?"

"It stands for electromagnetic field," Mai said promptly. "Theory is, basically, that spirits give off some sort of electric and magnetic energy, aka, EMF. But it's not just spirits. It's a thing that exists naturally around us, and certain objects will also give it off.

"But then you have people you can call...hypersensitive to this particular thing. They'd only need to be exposed to high EMFs for a few minutes before they'd start to react to them in some way. Nausea, skin irritation, headaches, paranoia, feeling like you're being watched, touched, or spoken to-those are all symptoms of it," said Mai, counting off on her fingers.

"So essentially, everything Hideki-san said his friends have experienced in this house are common symptoms of hypersensitivity towards high EMF."

Naru couldn't help but stare in surprise. Perhaps it was naive of him to think it, but he honestly hadn't expected Mai to explain it correctly. But...she had changed.

He'd been oblivious to it before, no doubt because he hadn't bothered looking or listening carefully enough, but Mai had changed during the year he had been gone. That change applied to her physically as well, of course, but her emotional and mental maturity had changed too.

Mai had grown up in so many ways he hadn't even thought to realize.

"Hey, boss?" said Yasuhara suddenly. When he had Naru's attention, he went on. "I don't see anything here about any children dying on the property. In fact, if these books are all accurate, it doesn't seem like _any_ children have ever even _lived_ here. The house is fairly new as well, from what I've been able to find.

"It was built some thirty years ago by the Minami couple. I see nothing about them having children, but they lived here alone until approximately thirteen or so years ago, at which point Hideki-san purchased the house from them. He lived here for five or six years, left for about a year, and then returned, and has been here ever since. It looks like he's been living here alone the entire time too." He lowered his notebook, adjusted his glasses, then looked up. "What do you think, Shibuya-san?"

Naru was quiet for a moment as he thought things through, deciding on what their next step should be, while the others exchanged bemused glances. They weren't sure why they ever expected Naru to share his thoughts with them. He never did until he felt like it.

"Go to the library-there must be one somewhere nearby," he said eventually, eyes on Yasuhara. "You should be able to do more detailed research there. The rest of you can start setting up the equipment. Our investigation will mean nothing if we have no instruments prepared to document any activity."

And so they did as told, Yasuhara asking Hideki for some directions before leaving the house, while nearly everyone else went around the house setting up cameras and the works. Once they were finished with that, they (discounting Yasuhara) returned to the Base.

Mai had only just stepped into the room, when Naru immediately sent her back out to get him some tea. With an explosive sigh, Mai turned on her heel and left the room once more, muttering under her breath.

"Stupid scientist, sits on his ass while we do all the damn manual labour..."

Naru sighed, but bit back a smile. _Some things never change,_ he thought. There was a part of him that was genuinely pleased that this part of Mai hadn't matured. He secretly loved it when she said things like this. It was...amusing.

But Naru wasn't the only one who was wrenched out of his thoughts abruptly when a sudden scream filtered through the house.

"Mai!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Apparently when I originally wrote this chapter there was a delay because I had a terrible migraine and a lot of homework to do. The migraine is true enough, but look at poor teenage me, pretending like i ever actually did my homework. Thank you to all readers so far!

Naru was the first one out of the room, Lin and John hot on his heels, the others remaining behind at Naru's curt order. They found Mai in the kitchen, seated on the floor, Bou-san at her side, the monk having gone with her when she'd been sent off to make tea. She was clutching her arm, her face pale. Naru clenched his fists when he realized Mai was bleeding.

"Mai-san!" John quickly dropped down at the girl's side, looking worried. "What happened?" he asked, glancing at a rather furious looking Naru.

"I don't know," said Mai with a shake of her head. "Bou-san and I were just standing here talking, and then this-this knife just came flying out of nowhere! We were just so surprised, we didn't really know what we were looking at, and because of that it ended up cutting me."

"May I?" Lin said, gesturing at Mai's arm.

She nodded, holding it out, letting him examine it, and as he did this, Naru turned his attention to Bou-san, who had an odd expression on his face-an expression Naru wasn't really able to place.

"Is there something you wish to add, Takigawa-san?" he asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Bou-san didn't rise to the bait and, keeping his voice calm, said, "Whatever attacked Mai was trying to kill her, but it also seemed like there was something...interfering in what was going on."

"Interfering?"

"Hmm, some other energy, maybe another spirit-I'm not sure," said Bou-san with a half shrug. "But whatever it was stopped that spirit from seriously injuring Mai. The knife was moving fast when it flew towards us, but then it stopped moving as it reached Mai, and fell due to gravity," he explained slowly, almost as if he were carefully thinking out each word. "I don't think her wound is particularly bad. It didn't seem like there was enough force for it to be."

"He is correct," said Lin. "There is a cut, deep enough to bleed, but fairly shallow. It's already stopped bleeding, and doesn't seem to require further medical attention, though I would prefer Matsuzaki-san bandage it to prevent any sort of infection, just in case."

Mai nodded, not minding that, and together the group returned to the Base, where Ayako took care of Mai's wound while what happened in the kitchen was explained to her and Masako.

Suddenly feeling exhausted however, Mai heard little of what was said, and before she knew it, had fallen fast asleep on the couch where she was sitting...

* * *

_Mai woke in a bedroom belonging to a little girl. The walls were painted a beautiful sky blue, there were many picture books lining a small bookcase against a wall, stuffed animals and dolls strewn about the brightly lit room, the curtains pulled back to fill the room with sunshine._

_And sitting there in the centre of this room was a little girl._

_She couldn't have been any older than four, her short brown hair tied into pigtails. She was dressed in a little green skirt, with a shirt that matched, and was quite adorable. But she didn't notice Mai, and simply sat there, cheerfully playing with one of her dolls._

_Mai could help but stare, horror building within her-a horror that didn't at all dissipate even when Gene materialized beside her. "Gene... Why-what is this? Why am I-why am I seeing this? I don't want to see this, Gene! Why are you making me see this!?"_

_Gene set a hand on her arm for comfort, but smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Mai, but it's related."_

_"Oh...no, Gene-"_

_"Tell Noll about this. He needs to know."_

_"Gene..."_

Mai woke before she could say anything more, and hadn't even been able to gather her thoughts when she realized Naru was watching her. She froze, Gene's words ringing in her ears, but...she couldn't do it. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't tell him. For the first time, Mai was reluctant to tell Naru what Gene had said to her.

Instead, she quickly looked away from him, aware that having done so without saying anything to him at all was only going to make him suspicious, but unable to think of anything convincing to say right now.

Sure enough, the moment she looked away, Naru's eyes narrowed, though he had only just opened his mouth to speak, when he was cut off inadvertently.

"I'm baaaack!"

"Yasu's back," said Mai, her tone bleeding sarcasm.

They waited for Yasuhara to come in and sit down, before Naru promptly asked him whether he had been able to find any further information at the library. Yasuhara nodded in answer, and pulled out his trusty notebook.

"I triple checked everything, boss," he said. "Everything I said earlier appears to be true, but I _did_ find details of two children who seemed to have lived not in this house, but the general area, and passed away at young ages." He paused here, hesitating, eyes flickering over to Mai.

Mai's eyes widened. She knew _exactly_ what Yasuhara had learned, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted that information to be told to everyone else. But what if she was wrong? What if the dead children Yasuhara had learned about weren't the ones she was thinking of? At the same time though, what if they _were_?

Before she could process her own thoughts, Mai had jumped to her feet, grabbed Yasuhara by the arm, and dragged him out of the room, ignoring all the sounds of protest and confusion she was hearing. She had to know. Before he told everyone, she _had_ to know.

"What did you find out, Yasu?" Mai asked in a rush. "Those kids! What did you find out about those kids!?"

Yasuhara stared at her, surprised. He had never seen her so agitated before, and she sounded almost hysterical. Then again, if the information he had found truly was correct, then...well, he supposed he couldn't blame her.

"I know what happened, Mai-san."

Mai flinched, then looked away, an expression of pain crossing her face. "That's what I was afraid of," she said softly.

Now that Yasuhara knew, not to mention finally knowing it was definitely related to their case, Mai realized that she had no choice. She had to reveal the secret she'd been keeping from them all for the past handful of years. She had no choice now.

"Mai-san...?"

Mai sighed, then looked up. "I'm sorry you had to do all that research for nothing, seeing as I already know about everything you found, but...if it's alright, I'd like to tell them all about it myself. P-please..."

"Of course," said Yasuhara with a gentle smile, setting a hand down on her shoulder and squeezing. "I'll be right there with you if you need me to take over for you, okay?"

"U-un..."

Together, the two returned to the Base in silence, where they were met with a number of stares and, in one case, an irritated glare.

Mai recognized the expression on Naru's face, and knew he was about to question what she'd just done, so she spoke up quickly, wanting to prevent that from happening.

"I'm somehow related to this case."

Naru's head snapped up. "What do you mean _you're_ related to this?"

"I-I guess I should tell you guys about my family," said Mai, swallowing around the lump that was already forming in her throat.

Ayako frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you said you were an orphan because your parents passed away when you were younger?"

"That wasn't a lie," said Mai. "I just...withheld the details."

"Why?"

"Because there are just...they're just things I don't like thinking about, let alone actually talking about. Part of me kind of just wants to forget any of it happened, but this case-because of this case, I feel like I don't have a choice. You were going to find out sooner or later, sooner in this particular instance, since Yasuhara already learned about it all, and I'd rather you all just hear about it from me instead."

"But...what is it?" said Bou-san, looking very confused. "What happened?"

"My family-" Mai bit her lip, struggling with herself.

"Your family was murdered," said Masako matter of factly.

Mai inhaled sharply, then said, "Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Murdered…?"

Mai nodded. "I…I'm not an only child. I didn't want to talk about this, cause I didn't want to think about it."

"You had siblings?" Ayako asked in surprise.

"Yes. An older brother named Ryou and a sister named May She-she was my twin."

"Wha-?"

At this, Mai chanced a glance at Naru. She was glad to see the surprised and confused look on his face.

"What happened to them, Mai?" Naru asked.

Mai sighed. "One day, when May and I were four and Ryou-nii was eight, dad took him to work with him. I'm not sure why, honestly. I don't remember if they explained it. My parents were professors at the nearby university.

"Anyway, later in the evening, this…detective came to our home. He told us that-that dad and Ryou-nii had been found dead in his last period classroom. They had been killed by a single gunshot wound to the forehead," said Mai quietly.

"Oh my gosh…"

Mai smiled slightly, but it wasn't a smile of humour. "Yeah… We moved not long after that. Mom didn't want to live in the same house-too many memories, I guess. So we started over, just the three of us, me and mom and May.

"Everything was going okay until May and I turned ten. One day, she and mom stayed home, cause May was sick. I remember arguing with mom, because I wanted to stay home too, I didn't want to go to school by myself. Of course, mom made me go. Being a teacher, she was against skipping school and all that."

No one said a word as Mai spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, yet audible to them all due to the silence in the room.

"Later in the afternoon, I was in the classroom and had to hand in our journals. Since May and I sat next to each other and she wasn't there, I was asked to hand in hers , I took it from her desk and… I dunno how it happened, but I-i _saw_ what was going on at home. I saw it in my mind, but at the same time it felt like-like I was really there.

"I saw this man, and I-I saw him attack my mom with a knife-a big knife. I think mom passed out, cause I know she didn't die, but the guy went to May and he attacked her too. He used the knife at first, but then there was a gun to May's forehead. I-i could feel the pain May was in, and I could hear her screaming for mom and dad, and for Ryou-nii, and-and for me. But there wasn't anyone there to help her, and the man just-just _laughed_ at her, and then he pulled the trigger."

A gasp rang through the room.

"What happened then?" John asked in shock.

Mai didn't look at him-couldn't bring herself to look at _any_ of them. She just spoke to the floor. "I found myself back in the classroom, as if nothing had happened… A police officer came and took me to a hospital a little while later. There, mom and a detective told me what had happened, and on her deathbed, mom gave me the key to our old house. The one we had lived in when dad and Ryou-nii were still alive.

"And then she died, and I had to live with my aunt and uncle. They weren't good people. I don't think they had any real interest in taking care of me, and just did it because they felt like they had to. They never treated me very well, but I put up with it because I felt like I owed them. But then they died in a car accident three years later, when I was thirteen. After that one of my teachers sort of looked after me until I started working at SPR and made my own money."

"What happened to the people who killed your family?" asked Ayako quietly.

"Person, you mean."

"…Wait, what?"

"The killer was the same person," said Mai. "The same person killed dad and Ryou-nii, and then mom and May. And he was never found. I was told there was no evidence and that the trail was growing cold. Eventually they said they had to move on to other, newer cases, and I haven't heard from them since. That was a couple of years ago."

"Oh god..."

"Were you...not able to see his face?" asked John cautiously.

Mai shook her head. "It was kind of...blurred, I guess. I couldn't make anything out at all."

There was a long silence.

Mai finally looked up at them. "Naru, a while ago you told me that i had no idea what it was like watching your twin die and not being able to help them. Well, I _do_ know what it's like. I've known since I was ten. I- This is why I said I thought you should try to live your life. Why I said Gene wouldn't want you to keep going like this. That's what I try to do. I try my best to live a happy life because-because May didn't have that chance herself!" Throat closing up, Mai fled from the room before the others could see the tears on her face.

But no one was able to stop her from leaving. They were shocked, _beyond_ shocked. They had known Mai for a few years now, and had never even had an _inkling_ that she'd been hiding anything from them at all, let alone something like _this_!

It was Yasuhara who finally broke the long silence that had fallen by saying, "The deaths happened around the same time of the year-around now. Yesterday, actually."

Finally Naru and Lin understood why Mai had been behaving so strangely over the last few days. It was no surprise she had been quiet recently, if those incidents were on her mind.

"Wait a second."

Everyone turned to look at Yasuhara again, who was looking down at his notes with a frown.

"I found information on the only two children who died in this area. Taniyama Ryou and Taniyama May…"

"Your point?" said Naru.

"If those two are the ones haunting this house, then they're haunting Hideki-san, right?"

"Yes."

"Why would two children like them haunt this one random man?" Yasuhara asked curiously.

"The darker spirit may be forcing them to," said Masako. "That may explain why I am unable to interact with them at all."

Lin however, seemed to have a different opinion. And as he voiced it, everyone looked at him in shock.

"I wonder if it is possible that Hideki-san is the one who killed Mai-san's family?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Hideki-san…? Why would _he_ have killed Mai-chan's family?" said Bou-san, looking more than a little confused.

"I cannot say," said Lin, turning back to the monitors. "But it seems like a possibility nevertheless."

Suddenly realizing that Mai had left the room alone, Naru went to look for her himself, though he honestly wasn't entirely sure why. He found her in the room she was to be sharing with Ayako. She was laying face down on the bed. Cautiously, and with no idea what to say, Naru approached her and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Mai."

She didn't move.

"Mai…" He tried again.

Still nothing except a small sniff. Naru hesitated, then placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. She tensed.

"Mai, look at me," said Naru, trying to keep his voice calm and firm.

Mai shook her head, and Naru suddenly noticed she seemed to be holding something in her left hand. When he tried to take it, Mai let him do so, and he quickly realized it was a photograph. There were two children in it, both girls, both identical. Mai and May. Being a twin himself, Naru could easily tell the two apart. Mai was obviously the one on the right. He recognized her bright smile instantly.

_"Stop staring at the picture and comfort her you idiot,"_ said Gene's voice suddenly.

"Gene?"

_"Forget me!"_ said Gene angrily. _"Comfort her, or you'll lose her!"_ And with that, Gene's voice faded away once again.

For once, Naru did what his brother said. He put the picture down and in one swift motion, pulled Mai into his arms. Mai stiffened in his hold, but relaxed when he gently began stroking her hair

"It's okay, Mai," said Naru quietly. "You can cry."

And Mai cried. Cried long and hard, and Naru just held her through it all, stroking her hair and patting her back, clearly a little awkward about it but wanting to offer what comfort he could anyway. It just made her cry even harder.

How long had she been holding this in for, Naru wondered? How long had Mai been preventing herself from crying and mourning so that she could live for her twin sister? Live for her older brother? Live for her parents? How long had it been since Mai had allowed herself to fall apart and receive comfort from another? Had she ever?

Eventually, Mai fell silent and began to pull away, trying to hide her face, no doubt embarrassed by her outburst.

"Are you alright now?" Naru asked, trying to conceal his own feelings on the matter.

"Yeah," said Mai, her voice hoarse from crying. "I'm-I'm sorry about that." She hesitated slightly, and then looked at him. "But, why did you…?"

She didn't have to finish for Naru to understand what she was trying to ask. "You ran off alone. I-I had to be sure you were safe."

Mai stared, a little startled, and the instant Naru realized what exactly he had said, he looked away, hoping Mai couldn't see the blush he could definitely feel. He couldn't even come up with one of his usual witty remarks, something he usually never missed a chance to do.

Mai couldn't stop the giggle that left her. "Who would've thought you could be so nice, Naru."

"Can't you see it, Mai?"

Mai blinked. "See what?"

"I love you, Mai."

Mai's eyes widened, and if Naru had just left it at that, the entire thing would have been perfect and great. Unfortunately, because it was Naru, he _didn't_ just leave it at that and, instead, said-

"I honestly don't know how much longer I'll be able to handle this. But I understand. You love Gene, and I know that. Just-just let me indulge in my own needs for a little while."

Mai very nearly slapped him. She wanted to. Badly. But she didn't. She settled for grabbing him by his collar and shaking him. "Are you a friggin' idiot!? I don't love Gene. I love _you_!"

Naru shook his head. "You're mixing us up," he said. "You're confusing your feelings for him with me because I look like him. You're both so similar, it really is no surprise that you fell for hi-"

Naru was cut off when Mai's soft lips were suddenly pressed against his own. But she pulled away before he had a chance to do anything, and she cupped his face in her hands.

"I had my own twin, Naru. I know how different they can be, even if their faces are the same. And I know how different the things I feel around you and Gene are. Maybe you look the same, but you couldn't be any more different. I know my feelings better than anyone else." Mai leaned in closer, looking earnest. "I know without a single doubt that I love Oliver."

Maybe it was the use of his real name, but it seemed like something finally clicked inside Naru, because this time he was the one taking her shoulders. But he didn't shake her like she had him. Instead, he pulled her closer to him and he kissed her.

While Mai was surprised at first, she quickly brought her arms around his neck, bringing him in even closer, allowing the kiss to deepen. It was nice. _really_ nice.

"Ow!" Naru released a sudden exclamation of pain.

"Naru?"

"What the hell are you doing, Gene?" Naru all but yelled.

"Gene?" Confused, Mai looked around, only to see that Eugene had somehow materialized next to them. It seemed he had hit his brother upside the head.

"About time!" Gene exclaimed with a smile. "Thought you two would _never_ get it on!"

Neither Naru nor Mai had a chance to respond though. There was a loud bang that was followed by an almost, inhuman scream, and the entire house was plunged into darkness.

"Naru?" said Mai, feeling around. There was no answer. Worried, she reached around more and found his arm. It didn't seem like he was moving. "N-Naru…?" She shook him slightly. He still didn't move. "Naru!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Apparently this chapter was originally delayed because my laptop broke and I was stuck using either the family desktop or my mum's laptop. But my brother was playing Dark Souls and wanted us to keep the comp off due to lag, and my mum spent all day watching random shows and doing whatever people used to do on Facebook back then. Damn, this was written so long ago. Dark Souls 2 and 3 came out since then, along with Bloodborne and Sekiro. Shit. Thank you to all readers so far!

Mai let out a sudden cry of pain as something roughly grabbed her arm. She knew it wasn't Naru either, and it wasn't even Gene.

It looked like the dark entity, whatever it was, had decided to take advantage of their lapse in attention and make its move. The grip on Mai's arm tightened and she cried out in startled pain.

The door banged open and someone ran in, chanting in a familiar sounding mantra in an even more familiar sounding voice.

The pressure on Mai's arm lifted and the lights flickered a few times before staying on.

"Bou-san…" Mai sighed in relief at the sight of the monk, who was quickly approaching the bed.

"What happened to Naru-bou?"

Mai gasped and whipped around. "Naru! Naru! Wake up, you moron!"

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Mai's insult actually seemed to work, and Naru began to stir. He half sat up before letting out a groan and stopping himself in place.

"Naru!" Mai exclaimed in relief.

She hugged him tightly, despite the fact that he was in pain and propped up on an elbow. Naru brought an arm around her, probably without thought.

It took both Naru and Mai a few minutes to get their bearings, and once they had, they returned to the Base, Bou-san keeping close behind them, probably more on guard than they were.

Once they had made it back and settled down, the rest of the group was informed of what happened in the room. They listened in silence, Lin noting it all down as always, and though John was the first one to speak, his attention was fixed on Mai.

"Mai-san, what happened to your arm?"

Mai looked down and blinked. The same arm that had been cut earlier, now had a large, dark, and very clearly handprint shaped bruise around it.

"Oh yeah, I forgot it grabbed me." said Mai, prodding at the bruise curiously.

"Were you _that_ worried about Naru?" said Ayako rather slyly as she carefully examined Naru.

Mai blushed and Naru scowled.

"Well, you don't need to worry," said Ayako, sitting back. "Naru's fine. He's got a small bump on the head, but that's it. Nothing to worry about."

Mai looked up and caught sight of Masako's expression. Normally, when a joke about Naru and Mai was made, Masako would get angry, but right now, her face didn't show anger, but something quite different. If Mai was seeing it right, she looked kind of sick.

"Hey, Masako? Are you okay?"

Sleeve raised to cover her face slightly, Masako, slowly, said, "When the lights went out, the dark spirit's presence became overwhelming. Ryou-san and May-san's presences vanished."

"W-what?"

"Don't worry, I can feel them again. Their presences returned when the lights came back on."

"Oh, good. That's-that's good," said Mai in relief, knowing that the bad spirit hadn't devoured the spirits of her siblings.

"You can confirm that these two spirits are Mai's brother and sister, Hara-san?" said Naru.

Masako nodded. "Yes, they are definitely them. I don't doubt it at all."

There was a moment of silence.

"Yasuhara-san, did you find any information on who this dark spirit may be?" Naru asked a minute later.

Not looking particularly pleased about it himself, Yasuhara shook his head. "Sorry, boss. I haven't been able to find anything yet at all."

Naru sighed and Mai blinked in surprise, half because of Naru's unusual show of agitation, and half because she had suddenly realized something.

"What if this dark spirit is something Hideki-san picked up somewhere else?" she said.

Taking that into consideration immediately, Naru said, "Lin, call Madoka. Tell her to meet Yasuhara-san at the library."

"Boss! You're sending me out in this horrid weather, again!?" Yasuhara exclaimed in a scandalized tone.

Mai laughed. "But it's warm and sunny out, Yasu." She pulled the curtain back.

"No! My eyes!" Yasuhara cried, shielding his face.

Naru seemed entirely unfazed by Yasuhara's antics. "Yasuhara-san, you have a couple of hours before the library closes. I expect you and Madoka to return with some information."

"Yes sir!" Yasuhara saluted before he marched out of the room dutifully.

Thoroughly amused, Mai quickly turned to muffle her laugh in Bou-san's shirt, even though he looked like he was trying not to laugh too.

"Mai, tea."

Mai sighed. "Yeah, okay. C'mon Bou-san."

The monk pouted like a child. "I don't wanna go."

"…What?"

"Mai. I need tea. You don't get paid to stand around," said Naru.

"But no one wants to come with me," Mai whined. "And _you're_ the one who said no one can go off alone. _And_ you're the one who wants tea!"

Naru sighed and got up. "I'll go with you."

"Oh, okay…"

They left the Base, heading towards the kitchen in awkward silence. But once they were there, they seemed to quickly gravitate towards one another and just like earlier in the bedroom, they suddenly found their lips inches apart.

Mai was the one to close the distance this time, and Naru responded just as eagerly, his hands beginning to wander, one of them finding their way to Mai's leg, just under the hem of that torturously short skirt. Mai tensed slightly at the touch, but all Naru did was stroke the skin of her thigh gently, and she started to relax, already getting used to it.

Of course, Naru wasn't the only one who had wandering hands. Mai's were moving too, though hers were on Naru's chest, working on the buttons on his shirt. Two of them were already undone, and just as she started on the third-

The kettle began to scream, causing them both to jump apart, startled by the sudden loud sound.

Embarrassed, they avoided one another's gaze and Mai turned to the stove so she could turn it off and grab the kettle. But just as she reached forward, she felt someone shove her roughly from behind.

She just barely managed to catch herself from hitting the hot stove, and her head snapped up when the lights above her started flickering. Naru's hand came to her shoulder, gripping it tightly as he stood at her back, though he was also looking up at the lights.

Catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, Mai looked over and saw a dark figure. She could have swore it pointed at her, but drowsiness hit her like a ton of bricks and she started to drop. As her eyes started to fall shut, she heard a voice somewhere in her mind-

_"I will have my revenge!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Well, now I know that this chapter was originally posted around November 2011, considering I mention in the old AN that this was delayed due to Uncharted 3 and a couple of deaths in the family. Jesus. Thank you to all readers so far!

_"…Ahh, I can't believe I passed out again," said Mai. She looked around, taking in her new surroundings. It looked like she was standing in a house. "Huh? Where...have I seen this before? This house looks familiar."_

_"That's because this was your uncle's house," said Gene approaching._

_"Hey Gene… What do you mean?"_

_"Your uncle, Suzaku-san. Do you remember him?" asked Gene._

_Mai thought for a moment. The name did indeed sound familiar, but it took her a few seconds to place it. "Umm… Oh yeah! I remember him! He suddenly died when I was seven! I-I think they said it was suicide?"_

_"He didn't kill himself," said Gene. "He was murdered. Murdered by the same person who killed your parents and siblings."_

_Mai paled. "W-what…?" She looked around, and then suddenly understood something. "Are you implying that he-that he's the dark spirit in Hideki-san's house? The one that's been attacking us?"_

_Gene only nodded._

_"What? But why? Why's he-" But before Mai could complete her sentence, or Gene could even start to answer, he began to disappear._

_"Gene, wait!"_

* * *

Mai's eyes shot open. Unsure of where she was, she looked around and after a minute, realized she was in the bed of the room she was sharing with Ayako. It was dark, which obviously meant it was some time at night. Fairly late too, considering Ayako was fast asleep next to her.

How long had she been out for?

Quietly, Mai slipped out of the bed and made her way out of the room. She knew they'd been told not to wander off alone, but she really needed to use the bathroom and there was no way she could wait until morning. Ayako could probably protect herself, right?

Once she was done in the bathroom, Mai went over to the Base, but it was empty. She supposed that wasn't surprising, considering the time. Not bothering to turn the light on, she dropped down on the nearby couch with a soft sigh.

_*Flashback*_

_"Naru?"_

_Naru sighed, knowing Mai was going to ask another stupid question. "Yes, Mai?"_

_"How would you know if something happens if you don't watch the monitors?"_

_Naru looked at her incredulously. "We analyze the evidence later, Mai."_

_"Oh, right. That makes sense."_

_"Tea."_

_"Hai…"_

_*End Flashback*_

Mai smiled slightly. It really hadn't been _that_ long since she had started working at SPR, but she'd really come a long way since then, hadn't she?

But now her smile was replaced with a frown. She couldn't understand how her uncle was the dark spirit. And if it was, why was he hurting her? She remembered that uncle a little, and he'd been really nice. But really, how was it that all three of the spirits in the house were related to her? Her uncle, her older brother, her twin sister-it just didn't make sense.

Lost in her thoughts, Mai didn't hear the door open, and she didn't realize she wasn't alone anymore until she felt someone sit down beside her. She looked over, but couldn't see who it was due to the darkness in the room. But she didn't need to _see_ who it was to know.

"Naru…"

Naru made a sound of acknowledgement, but didn't seem to know what to do. After a moment, he pulled her into him and Mai realized he was trying to offer a hug. She accepted gratefully.

"Neh, Naru?"

"Hm?"

"I know who the dark spirit is."

"You do?" said Naru, surprise in his voice.

"Yeah. Gene told me," said Mai. "His name's Taniyama Suzaku. He's my uncle. Or was my uncle, I guess."

"Your uncle? What happened to him?"

"Gene said he was killed by whoever killed the others in my family. He died when I was seven, but I remember hearing it was suicide. I guess mom didn't want to talk about murder, considering what happened to dad and Ryou-nii."

"I see…" Naru was silent for a time, before he sighed quietly and said, "You should know that we are suspecting Hideki-san as the murderer."

Mai straightened, pulling herself away from Naru, her entire body tense. "Are you telling me that our _client_ killed my family!?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Mai was off the couch and at the door in less than three strides. "Where is he!? Where the fuck is he!?"

Naru grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back towards him, but Mai fought back roughly.

"Let me go!"

"Mai! Calm down."

"No! I will not calm down! That son of a bitch killed my family!" Mai cried.

"Mai, listen to me," said Naru calmly. He cupped Mai's face in both of his hands. "Listen, we're not sure whether Hideki-san actually did it or not. It's a possibility, but not proven. It may not be him, so until we find out, you can't let on that you're suspicious of him. Alright?"

Mai dropped her head, still breathing heavily, but beginning to calm down. "...Okay."

"Good. Come here." Naru pulled her back into his arms. He knew Mai was angry, understood why too, and he couldn't blame her either, but he still found himself relieved when Mai returned the embrace.

* * *

Once the others had woken and had had some breakfast, they regathered in the Base, and it was only now that Mai noticed something.

"Hey, where's Masako?"

"She left yesterday evening," said Ayako. "You were still passed out when she left."

"Oh, oh yeah. Right, I forgot she said she had something else to do and was supposed to leave." Mai nodded to herself, satisfied.

Naru had only just opened his mouth to speak, when Yasuhara and Madoka suddenly sauntered into the room, drawing everyone's attention to them.

Naru blinked. "Where have you two _been_ this entire time?"

"The library," said Madoka cheerfully, not even slightly fazed by Naru's harsh glare.

"You were supposed to come back when it closed. What did you _do_ all damn night?" said Naru, not looking particularly pleased.

"We snuck back into the library after it closed," said Yasuhara mysteriously.

"And did what?" Mai asked hesitantly.

"Research."

"We only just managed to find something when the library closed. It was some pretty strange information and we didn't want to wait, soooo we went in through a window." Madoka sounded quite proud as she said this.

Naru resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. "What did you find then?" he asked.

"Well, we didn't need to research the property, since I'd already done that. We read up on Hideki-san instead," said Yasuhara.

Both he and Madoka suddenly looked serious. Everyone looked around at each other in confusion, since those two being serious at the same time was indeed a strange occurrence. Kind of creepy too.

"There _is_ no Hideki-san," said Madoka.

"...What?"

"Hideki Kiyoshi doesn't exist," said Yasuhara.

"Are you sure?" said John with a frown, his brow creased.

Both researchers nodded.

"There's no record of him at all," said Madoka. "This house was bought thirteen years ago by someone named Yaoshima Akira."

"Yaoshima Akira...?" Mai repeated quietly. She looked down, thinking.

"Mai?"

"I-I know that name," Mai said slowly. "Why do I know that name...?"

"Try and remember," said Naru. "It's important for us to find out."

Mai nodded and rubbed her brow. "I'll keep thinking," she promised.

No one commented on Naru's hint of kindness. They knew that for Mai to remember, she couldn't afford to be distracted. No one except Lin seemed to realize that Naru and Mai had hooked up. Of course, Lin had actually witnessed the moment on the monitors, not that he had bothered watching for long.

* * *

Mai went to the kitchen by herself to make tea some time later, saying she needed time alone to think. Naru agreed, though it was an incredibly reluctant agreement. In fact, as soon as Mai had left the Base, he basically ordered Lin to watch the girl on the monitors, making sure to inform him if anything happened.

Naru sat there, waiting impatiently. Mai was taking too long, much too long. He left the Base barely two minutes after Mai had left, earning a smirk from Lin, though he didn't see it.

Entering the kitchen, Naru spotted Mai standing in the middle of the kitchen. It didn't look like she had even _started_ on the tea yet.

"Mai, what's taking you so long?"

The girl didn't respond. Naru moved closer. He noticed Mai's expression was oddly blank. Cautiously he reached out, touching Mai's shoulder.

"Mai? Are you alright?"

Mai blinked, and then glared at Naru viciously. "I don't like you," she declared firmly.

Naru stared, more than a little confused about the sudden and very unexpected declaration. "Mai…?"

"I can't _believe_ my little sister fell in love with a jerk like you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

This entire situation was so sudden that it took Naru a moment to process it all, but once it had, he realized that Mai was currently possessed. And by the sounds of it, it was her older brother, Ryou.

But Mai, or perhaps it was better to say Ryou, didn't say anything more to him and walked out of the kitchen, heading back to the Base. Naru followed and watched as, when they returned, Ryou went straight to the empty armchair and sat down with his arms folded over his chest, expression dour, causing the others, who didn't know what was happening, to look around at one another in confusion, wondering why Mai looked so annoyed.

Ryou looked around at them one by one, judging their appearance. "Glad that Hara girl left yesterday. I don't like her much either." He took another look at the others. "The rest of you are fine," he decided.

"And why do you not like Hara-san and myself?" asked Naru.

"You two are the only ones who fuck around with my sister," said Ryou.

"Wha-?"

"Mai has been possessed by the spirit of her older brother, Ryou," said Naru. But he didn't give them time to speak, because he went on. "Why have you possessed Mai?"

Using Mai's body and voice, Ryou turned to look at Naru. "You're the smart one, why don't you tell me?" he said curtly.

Naru blinked in surprise and Bou-san couldn't help but let out a laugh. Seeing the surprise on Naru's face, Ryou chuckled. Since it was Mai's voice though, it sounded rather strange.

"I may be dead, but I'm still older than you, kid," said Ryou.

"I see," said Lin quietly, understanding. "Ryou-san may have passed away as an eight year old child, but his spirit has matured. You may as well consider his spirit to be that of an adult's rather than a child, as he would currently be, had his death not occurred."

"Is that common?" asked Yasuhara curiously.

"It is...not common, no," said Lin, "but neither is it unheard of. Eugene is similar. Is May-san the same?" he asked Ryou.

"Yeah."

"Then despite dying at ten years of age, May-san's spirit can be considered that of an eighteen year old's, just as Mai-san is."

When Ryou yawned pointedly, Nartu looked over at him again. "Is there something you'd like to say?"

Ryou raised a brow. "Still older than you, buddy. But I guess it's time for me to enlighten you. I'm bored anyway."

Wow, yeah, Ryou _really_ didn't seem to care much for Naru, huh? It was a little confusing, to be honest. Kind of funny too.

"The man who owns this house, Hideki, is using a fake name. You already know this, right?" said Ryou. When they nodded, he said, "You also know his real name is Yaoshima Akira?"

They nodded again, almost in unison.

"Mai-san said she recognizes the name, but she can't remember," said John, a lot more willing to be nice than Naru.

"That makes sense," said Ryou. "You don't usually remember things that happened when you were three."

"What do you mean?"

There was a slight pause as if Ryou was hesitating, which they found strange considering his rather blunt and brash behaviour up until now.

"Akira…is our father."

There was a silence.

"What!?"

"Wait a minute," said Naru sharply. "I thought he died the same day as you."

"The man who died alongside me was our step-father," aaid Ryou. "Does Einstein need me to simplify?" he added, noticing Naru's confusion.

"Oh, I'm simply _dying_ to hear what you have to say," aaid Naru sarcastically.

"Oh yeah?"

The two went back and forth like this for a bit and the others couldn't help but watch. After all, it wasn't everyday that you got a chance to watch Naru behave like this. Lin had turned away from the monitors, and even Gene had manifested nearby to watch his twin brother's antics.

_Poor Mai-san,_ thought Yasuhara. _She's missing all the fun._

And he was right. The possessed girl would have given anything to have been able to see her boyfriend slash boss in the middle of this absolutely hilarious moment.

Luckily for Mai, Madoka was secretly recording it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Once Ryou and Naru had had enough of trying to verbally murder one another, Ryou finally decided to explain everything he knew.

"Enough of this shit," he said with some irritation, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah, Akira, or Kiyoshi as you guys know him, is our biological father. A year before my death, when I was seven and the twins three, our parents got divorced. Even more surprisingly, mom remarried just a few months later. Can't say I know why that was either. But when that marriage happened, our last names changed to Taniyama. Don't know why that was either. Guess mom thought I was too young to know."

"So, Mai's real surname is Yaoshima…?" asked Ayako attempting to confirm. "And after the second marriage it became Taniyama?"

Ryou gave a nod. "That's right. And yes, it was Akira who killed our family. He killed both our step-father and myself when I was eight, and May and our mom a few years later. I'm not sure why, but I know it was him."

"Is that why you're here then?" asked Bou-san. "You're haunting Hide-no Akira, because he killed you?"

"Fuck yeah I am," said Ryou bitterly. "That bastard was our _father_. He left us, so mom married someone else. Then, he suddenly comes back and kills off the family? Of course I'm going to haunt him. Do you guys _know_ how much trauma is locked up inside this girl? Inside Mai because of what happened?"

"What do you mean 'locked up'?" said Naru.

Ryou looked over at him. "After I died and before I came here, I watched over my little sisters. You don't know Mai like I do. When it comes to personal things, she'll never admit that she's upset. Instead, she'll lock it away and put on a smile. Mai's bright and cheerful and full of sunshine…but she's dying on the inside."

"Dying?" Ayako repeated with a gasp.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "I don't mean _literally_ dying, y'know. I mean emotionally. She's beginning to reach her limit."

"What can we do to help her?" asked John.

"Not you," said Ryou to the priest. He looked at Naru once more. "You."

Naru blinked. "Me…?"

"Yeah, you," said Ryou in a voice that clearly said he couldn't believe what he was saying. "Mai chose you. She loves you, can't say I understand why, but 'cause of this, _you_ need to be the one to get her to admit that she's still hurting. You're the only one who'll be able to do that."

Though Naru didn't admit it, he was actually quite surprised to hear this. He had not expected it. However, he realized that he agreed, at least to some extent.

"Now, if we go over to the reason why you're all actually here in the first place," said Ryou, rousing everyone's attention. "The dark spirit that's here-I don't know who it is, it's not me and it's not May."

"Where is May-chan anyway?" asked Madoka. "We haven't seen her yet or anything."

"You won't be seeing May anytime soon," said Ryou.

"Why not?"

"She's shy."

"…What?"

"May's shy," Ryou repeated. "She never got along with strangers, and even though she's dead, it's still the same. May and Mai are complete opposites," he explained.

"Ohh…"

"So you absolutely have no idea who this dark entity is?" asked Naru.

Ryou shook his head saying that he didn't. "But it was already here when May and I arrived."

"What do you mean? When exactly did you come here?"

"About a month or so after May died," said Ryou. "The two of us came here together after we made sure Mai would be alright."

"She wasn't alright though," said Yasuhara. "She said her aunt and uncle treated her badly."

Ryou sighed. "I didn't know that they were going to do things like that. If I had, I would've haunted them instead… So anyway, yeah, the dark spirit was already here, and it seemed like it had been around for a while. I think that might be why Akira did what he did."

"What are you talking about?" questioned Naru in faint confusion.

"Our father, Akira, was a really good person. He was the best father in the world. He played with me a lot, and even allowed the twins to draw on his face with markers in public. He was just…the best," said Ryou.

"What happened to him then?" asked Ayako.

"Everything was fine until the day of the incident."

"What incident?" asked Bou-san.

"The incident where Akira-where he got possessed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Apparently in the end AN for this chapter I mentioned I was working on the M rated version of Candy Cane. Holy shit that took me a long time to write. This AN was probably around the end of December in 2011. I think I finished that mature Candy Cane version in like, 2017? Damn. Comments? Kudos?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Possessed!?"

"Hideki-sa- Akira-san got possessed?"

Ryou nodded. "It happened about a month before he left. I don't know how or why, but it changed everything."

"And you think this possession is the reason why he began to kill your family?" said Naru.

"Well, yeah. I mean, he was perfectly fine _before_ that."

"When exactly did he get possessed?" asked Naru, trying to remain patient. "By that I mean, was he at home when it happened, or at work?"

Ryou shrugged. "I have no idea," he said. "I was only seven, remember? That day was totally normal up until he came home. When he came back, he was…yelling. He shouted a lot, loudly too. Mai and May were crying because of it. They probably didn't understand what was going on. He was just…so angry."

"Is that all he did?" asked Bou-san. "Yell?"

"No. He became physical after a while. He-he started hurting us. All of us…but, mostly Mai."

"Mai?"

"Yeah. She was injured so badly that she had to go to the hospital. She was in intensive care for nearly a week."

"What!?"

"Are you saying that that man down the hall nearly killed Mai?" questioned Ayako in shock.

"Yes," said Ryou with a nod. "Mai being in the hospital is another reason why she doesn't know any of this. We decided not to tell her."

"Why not?" asked Madoka. "Wouldn't it have been better if she had known?"

Ryou looked over at her. "When we were told not to say anything, I wondered that too," he said. "Pretty soon though, our parents got divorced and our mother remarried. When we saw Mai then, we knew we couldn't say anything. She had changed so much. She was so sad… She put on a happy face for us all, but…" Ryou trailed off.

"Go back to when Akira-san was possessed," said Naru. "How did you all realize it?"

"The spirit told us," said Ryou simply.

"It _told_ you…?" Yasuhara repeated in confusion.

"Yeah," said Ryou with a nod. "Mai was unconscious and naturally, we realized that something about our father was off. And then he spoke, saying that we were right and that our father wasn't himself right now. He said that he had taken our father's body over…that he had possessed him."

"Did he mention why?" asked John.

Ryou fell silent.

"I'll understand if you can't remember," said Naru politely. "This was years ago and you were only a child."

"Heh, so you _do_ have manners. Good to know," said Ryou with a smirk.

Naru forced himself not to argue back and merely folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't exactly remember what was said," said Ryou slowly, "but, I-I think I remember him saying he had some sort of…grudge against Mai. He said he hated her. I guess that was why he singled her out and hurt her worse."

The team was quite confused. Mai had been, what three or four years old at the time? How could a toddler possibly have upset a spirit to the point where it possessed the girl's father and had him hurt her?

"How did the spirit leave, then?" asked Yasuhara.

"An exorcism," said Ryou. "Mom called someone and he performed an exorcism."

"Did the spirit say why he hated Mai?" asked Bou-san. "Beyond the grudge part?"

"Nope. I'll leave that for you guys to figure out," said Ryou. "I'm sure you can do that much at least."

The team looked around at each other and nodded.

"With the information you just gave us, I'm sure we'll be able to find something out," said Yasuhara optimistically.

"Good," said Ryou. He then turned to look at Naru. "I don't like you, not one bit. But that's probably because my little sister chose you." He approached Naru and continued. "My opinion doesn't matter much, though. I _am_ dead, after all. You piss my sister off a lot, but she still loves you, and she'll do anything for you. I've seen that, and I know that, but don't you _dare_ force her into anything or you can bet your tea addicted ass that May and I will be after you instead."

As Ryou spoke to their boss, the rest of the team watched in serious silence. They all knew that this was not a joking matter, even despite the mild humour Ryou had inserted into the statement himself.

"Don't make her cry, understand?"

Naru nodded. "I won't."

Ryou smiled and then left Mai's body, causing her to fall forwards. Naru caught hold of her. She was unconscious, as expected. Mai had been possessed for a long time. She was going to need quite a bit of rest…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

_Once again, Mai awakened in darkness, only to see Gene looming over her._

_"What the-?" She sat up, nearly hitting him in the process. "Gene…?"_

_He smiled gently and helped Mai to her feet. "You suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It gave me a fright," said Gene._

_"Oh, sorry, but you know how I have no control over this," said Mai with a laugh. That laughter however, died away abruptly as a thought struck the girl. "Wait…you mean you didn't bring me here?"_

_Gene shook his head. "Nope."_

_Mai was definitely confused now. "But then…how did I get here?"_

_"We brought you here," replied two voices at once._

_Mai and Gene looked around as a couple of figures emerged from the darkness. Mai's eyes widened in surprise._

_"Ryou-nii? May?" Her eyes began to fill with tears. Not having seen her siblings in a long time, Mai was having a hard time keeping the emotions hidden away._

_May came over to her and hugged her. Ryou did the same a moment later. Gene stood there, smiling sadly at the sight. Knowing what happened to this family broke his heart._

_After Mai had had her fill, she stepped back and spoke. "Why did you guys bring me here?"_

_"When I possessed you, I told that boss of yours part of what's going on in this house," said Ryou. "Your past is involved, so when you wake up, I want you to tell him not to tell you anything until he feels it's okay to do it. Understand?"_

_Mai nodded. "I get it, but why?"_

_Ryou and May exchanged a glance. Gene noticed the pained looks on both their faces, and decided to end things now before everything got worse._

_"Mai," he said, "Noll will tell you when he can. There's a reason your brother and sister aren't telling you. You need to wait."_

_Mai sighed and nodded, though she didn't look all that pleased about it. "Fine. I understand."_

_"We miss you, Mai," said May sadly._

_"I miss you guys too. I don't like living alone…"_

_"Mai, I want you to go back now," said Gene suddenly._

_Mai turned to look at him. "Why? How come I have to leave now? You usually keep me here longer."_

_"You were possessed for a long time, Mai. You need to rest and being here isn't helping you recover."_

_"Alright, I'm leaving…" Mai reluctantly said goodbye to her siblings and Gene, before closing her eyes, leaving the Astral Plane and falling into a deep, but proper sleep._

* * *

It had been hours since Ryou had left Mai's body and she had passed out. Naru had laid the girl down on the bed in the room she shared with Ayako.

It was the middle of the night and Mai was still asleep. Naru sat on the bed next to her, taking advantage of Ayako having gone off to take a long bath. A bedside lamp was on and he was reading through his notes. He looked over at Mai as she gave a soft sigh, turning onto her back.

Naru was glad to see that Mai seemed relaxed now. During most of the time she had been asleep, she had been tense, but whatever the problem was finally seemed to have passed, and he was glad for that.

Eyes beginning to grow heavy, Naru knew it was about time he went to sleep too, but he decided it was better to wait for Ayako to return. Leaving Mai alone in here likely wasn't a good idea.

Naru didn't realize that as he pondered this, the equipment was picking up something very interesting indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Considering how short this was, I'm pretty sure I cut something out here. Comments? Kudos?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

When Mai woke in the morning, she remained where she was in bed, blinking slowly. She couldn't believe she had really spent most of the last two days unconscious. Jeez, that was annoying.

With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself out of bed, deciding to get herself ready first before waking Ayako-she knew the woman would only hog the bathroom otherwise, and then she'd have to wait for _ages_ to get anything done herself.

But once all of that was dealt with, the group gathered for breakfast and as they ate, Mai caught Naru's attention.

"Oh yeah, Naru?"

"Hm?"

"I had a dream last night," said Mai. She recounted what Ryou had said to her, and how Gene had echoed the same sentiments as her brother, though she admitted she didn't understand why they were saying this.

"I see," said Naru, once she had finished. He sighed softly. "He's your brother, so I'll respect his wishes, but you'll have to be told one day."

"R-Ryou-nii said that this case has something to do with my past," said Mai slowly. "But I don't remember anything that would cause that."

"There's...a reason for that," said Naru after a beat of silence.

Mai huffed. "I wish I could know now."

No one said anything to that. They all knew the truth, and while it did pain them that Mai didn't, they also understood where Ryou and Gene were coming from. Mai had locked whatever memories she had about all of this away. Didn't that mean she wasn't ready to remember everything? Didn't that mean it really _was_ better to wait until she was?

Lin finished breakfast first and headed off to the Base so he could begin analyzing the tapes and recordings and so on from the previous night, and the others remained at the table, chatting as they finished up their own food.

Some fifteen minutes later, they gathered up in the Base, only for Naru to glance at Mai from over his shoulder. "Tea."

Mai balked. "You _just_ had tea!" When all she got was a cool look in response, she sighed. "Yeah, yeah, fine. You tea-a-holic."

"I'll go with you, Mai-san," said John.

And so they headed back out and over to the kitchen, and it wasn't until they were there that John spoke again.

"How are you feeling, Mai-san?"

"I'm fine," she said with a smile. After a moment she said, "In my dream, Ryou-nii said he talked to you guys?"

"He did," said John, nodding once.

"I hope he gave you guys some information that could help."

John smiled. "He did. Madoka-san and Yasuhara-san are leaving to do more research as we speak. Your brother told us some interesting things."

"That's good," said Mai, moving around the kitchen. "I hope he wasn't too rude. I...kind of remember Ryou-nii having a bit of an attitude problem."

John nearly choked. He didn't say anything, couldn't bring himself to, but he had seen Madoka recording yesterday's...events, and knew it was only a matter of time before she shared that recording with Mai...

Once they were back in the base, Mai handed Naru his tea, not particularly surprised or bothered when she didn't get more than a muttered thanks. Actually, that was better than usual. Naru seemed very focused too, standing next to Lin by the monitors.

"Anything interesting?" Mai asked a little curiously, noting the way Naru's eyes were fixated on one of the screens.

When Naru nodded towards one of the monitors, Mai looked over at it and saw herself in bed. She was alone in the room and fast asleep, it seemed. Nothing happened at first, but then a strange mist started to form at the foot of the bed. After a few moments of this, a translucent figure was standing there, just staring at the sleeping Mai. The figure, which was that of a young man, turned around and walked towards the camera, clearly knowing what it was.

"Revenge!" he yelled at it, eyes full of fury.

Mai suddenly gave a cry of pain. She fell to her knees, clutching her head, memories flooding her mind.

"Shin-nii…!" she gasped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Apparently this was the AN where I mentioned I'd hit 100 reviews. A huge accomplishment for a novice writer. Thank you to all readers so far!

Mai was seated on the couch with Ayako looming over her. After viewing the footage of the figure caught the previous night, Mai had become despondent, and hadn't moved or said a word.

Ayako, who had been shining a small light into Mai's eyes, straightened up with a sigh. Naru stepped forward immediately, clearly awaiting answers.

"Before you ask, no she isn't possessed," said Ayako.

"Well, it sure seems like she is," muttered Bou-san.

"If it isn't possession, then what's wrong with her?"

"She's recalling a memory," said Ayako.

"Recalling a memory?" repeated John in confusion.

"Yes," said Ayako. "Well, that's my guess, at least." She then indicated that they all look at Mai. "Do you see her eyes? They're unfocused and glazed over-as if she's seeing something we can't."

"And on that basis, you conclude she's seeing memories?" said Naru.

If Ayako noted the derision in Naru's tone, she didn't indicate it and just nodded. "Yes. Mai reacted to that footage. 'Shin-nii,' is what she said. I mean, I'm not sure why, but it clearly triggered something. We know she's been keeping certain memories locked away too, according to Ryou. It's the only thing that makes sense. There's nothing actually _wrong_ with her, from what I can tell."

There was a silence. They knew there wasn't anything that could be done for Mai, except for her to snap back to reality on her own. So with nothing else they could really do, they began to talk quietly, though Naru retreated into silence himself, pondering the strange case.

From what they had learned so far, Hideki Kiyoshi was an alias, and their client's real name was Yaoshima Akira. Their client was also Mai's biological father.

Some fifteen years ago, he was possessed by a dark entity and became violent towards his family, Mai in particular, claiming some sort of revenge. An exorcism was performed on him and while it was successful, he was no longer the same. No doubt because of that, he and his wife, Mai's mother, divorced not long after, and he purchased the house they were currently investigating.

Approximately one year later, for reasons unknown, he killed the man who became Mai's step-father, and her older brother Ryou, who was eight at the time. Around three years later, he killed Mai's uncle, Suzaku, also for unknown reasons. Three years after that, he killed Mai's mother and her twin sister May, who was ten. Mai, at school at the time, wasn't harmed herself.

According to the footage captured the previous night, and Mai's reaction to said spirit, it couldn't be her uncle, which Gene had said it was. Mai had called it Shin, not Suzaku. Did that mean there were _two_ dark spirits haunting the house? Both Suzaku _and_ Shin?

One of these entities was trying to attack Mai, that much was certain, considering the knife incident from the other day. However, Bou-san had said that it seemed like something had also been trying to _stop_ the attack as well.

Both spirits claimed to want revenge, though the team had no way of knowing _why_ that was. Both entities were certainly dark, there was no mistaking that, but which one was the one trying to harm Mai? And why was this 'Shin'?

Everyone's attention was caught suddenly when Mai abruptly began to cry. The one closest to her, Naru was seized without thought and suddenly found himself being cried on. He blinked, hesitated visibly, much to the amusement of the others, and then patted Mai on the back awkwardly.

Madoka and Yasuhara, who had been at the library again, walked into the room only to stop dead in their tracks at the not so pleasant sight that greeted them.

"I-is everything...okay?" the two asked in unison.

Quickly and quietly, Bou-san filled them in on what happened, Lin pulling up the footage from the night before, so they could see what had taken place in the bedroom with the entity.

"But we haven't been able to get her to tell us who Shin is," Bou-san finished, dragging agitated fingers through his hair.

"Shin...Shin-nii is-is my brother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Your brother? Isn't Ryou-san your brother?"

"He is," said Mai slowly. "Shin-nii was-was my other brother. My step-brother. I-I don't know how I forgot."

"Step-brother?"

But it was Madoka who answered. "Mai's father-Taniyama-san," she emphasized, since Mai didn't seem to recall the truth of her biological father, "adopted a teenage boy a few years before marrying Mai's mother. The boy was eleven when he was adopted. Mai and her sister weren't born yet, and Ryou-kun would have been around three or so. His name was Shin. Konata Shin."

"What happened to him?" asked Naru. If he was indeed the dark entity, or at least one of them, then that meant he was dead. And considering Mai's outburst, it couldn't be good.

"Mai?"

"You-you can tell them," said Mai. "It's okay. It's-it's related to the case, so everyone needs to know." She was still clinging to Naru, her face half buried in his chest, though she didn't seem to notice.

Taking her up on it, Madoka nodded, accepting the notes Yasuhara handed her. "There was an...incident when Mai was four," she said. "This was before the one with her father and Ryou-kun, mind you, so they were still alive.

"According to a couple of newspaper articles, Mai, May, and Ryou were playing outside in their yard. Ryou claimed they were playing hide-and-seek, and Mai, who was meant to be seeking, suddenly disappeared. She'd been kidnapped-grabbed from the curb while she searched for her siblings."

No one said a word, and so Madoka just continued.

"There were a couple of witnesses who claimed they'd seen a teenage boy lurking around the area at the time of the kidnapping. Of course, and unfortunately, suspicion fell on Shin, who was sixteen at the time.

"Shin was questioned, but refused any wrongdoing. He said his siblings were playing and he was meant to be watching them. He said he got distracted for just a few seconds, and when he looked back, it was already too late. Apparently the police were under the impression that he had done it for attention or money, or maybe he was jealous of having to contend with three younger siblings all of a sudden."

She didn't have to add what she meant by 'sudden'. The others quickly understood that this would have been after Mai's mother married again, which meant Shin would have gone from being an only child, to having three younger siblings in just a few short months.

"What about an alibi?" asked John. "For Shin-san?"

Madoka nodded. "His alibi was confirmed by Ryou and May-they both said Shin was watching them, which he always did when they played outside. The police seemed to decide this wasn't good enough, and that they were only saying that to protect him. The police also claimed that Shin was _uncooperative_ , even though everything else states otherwise."

Bou-san crossed his arms. "Seems like they just wanted to pin it on him and call it a day."

"Yeah," said Madoka, agreeing and also clearly trying to remain professional. "Shin grew angered by the continued suspicion on him, and realizing the police had no real intention to investigate, he tried doing so himself."

"Did he succeed?"

"He did. He found and rescued Mai, but was-was shot as they made their escape. The kidnapper escaped as well and still hasn't been identified, and Shin died of blood loss."

"I was checked over at the hospital after," said Mai, pulling herself away from Naru, eyes downcast. "Even though it had only just happened, I had already forgotten it all. I didn't remember until now."

"Trauma based amnesia," said Ayako. "The mind seals away select memories to protect itself from the pain of trauma."

"I guess...hearing his voice again all this time later brought it all back," said Mai quietly.

How was it, they wondered, that Mai had been through so much trauma in her short life? She was only eighteen, and had faced more death than many others faced over a lifetime. But again and again it happened to her. It was almost ironic that she had ended up joining SPR, all things considered.

How did Mai still manage to keep smiling…?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Mai-san, can I ask you something?" asked Yasuhara, breaking the silence that had fallen.

Mai blinked, but nodded. "Of course you can. What is it?"

Yasuhara exchanged a glance with Madoka, then said, "Does the name Jack Midnight sound familiar to you?"

Mai seemed a little confused by the obviously foreign name (the rest of them were too), and while she thought about it for a minute, she eventually shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, but I don't remember. I guess at this point it's probably just another thing my mind's made me forget. Why?"

Yasuhara hesitated. "We found records of a man by that name who lived with your family for nearly three years before his death. You would have been three when it happened, so it's more that you can't remember due to your age rather than anything else."

"He...lived with us? And if I was three, then it was in our first house too, because we moved after dad and Ryou-nii died." Mai found herself frowning again, thinking.

There was a long silence where no one was willing to interrupt Mai's train of thought. Considering everything else that had happened so far, maybe it really would be better for her to remember as much as possible now.

"I do...vaguely remember a man," Mai said slowly. Her eyes were locked on the floor and her brow was furrowed. "A tall man. Really tall. Ryou-nii and May used to play with him, but I… I think I was scared of him? I don't remember why." She looked at Yasuhara. "You said he died, right? What was his cause of death?"

"It's listed as unknown," said Yasuhara.

"I double checked it," said Madoka, "and I even managed to find a copy or his death certificate. It was listed as unknown there too. There was a note by the medical examiner that said it seemed like some form of asphyxiation, but it also looked like his heart stopped and he just dropped dead for no reasonable reason. He couldn't conclude anything, and so listed the cause as unknown."

Mai nodded slowly, and if possible, her brow furrowed even further. "I… Was it May? Didn't I…?" She was muttering to herself now, clearly trying to piece incredibly vague memories together. "I'm not fully sure," she said a moment later, "but I'm getting the feeling that May-that May was the one who-who killed him, and I… I took the blame for it."

Quite a few of them wanted to protest that, but Naru was the first one to speak, before any of the rest of them could.

"Why do you say that?"

Mai shook her head. "I remember something about a ball rolling too far and running after it, and then finding the man-Jack, on the ground not moving. And I remember May crying a lot. And I-i feel like I was the one who said I did it." She looked at them again. "But none of those are solid memories. I can't remember any of it clearly."

"Are you certain that that is at least the gist of what happened?" asked Lin.

Mai nodded. "I am."

"Mai, if you remember Shin-san, do you also remember your step-father?" said Naru abruptly.

"Noll-"

Naru shook his head. "Do you remember, Mai?"

Mai's frown only deepened at the words though. "Step-father…?" she repeated slowly. "Step-father… Oh, oh, I think… Mom remarried when I was little, didn't she? And-and dad was actually our step-dad. And he brought Shin-nii with him." She looked up at them. "Right?"

Naru nodded. "That's right."

When Naru didn't say anything more, Mai raised a brow. "Does this have something to do with what Ryou-nii said?"

"It does."

"But it's not everything, is it?"

"It isn't."

Lin turned back to the monitors suddenly and began typing quickly. Then a second later, said, "There's been a large temperature drop near the stairs. No visuals."

Naru nodded and was at Lin's side in an instant, leaning over his shoulder to confirm things himself, and then barking out orders at the rest of them.

Eager to do some work after the highly emotional conversations they'd had, they jumped into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. This was one of the VERY edited chapters, now that I'm looking back at it. I changed the original timeline too, because if I remember right, the Jack stuff wasn't originally brought up until a bit later. Anyway, comments? Kudos?


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Mai and Ayako stood at the top of the stairs, Bou-san and John at the bottom. Naru had sent them to check out the stairs due to the temperature anomaly that had been recorded. He wanted to make sure there was no explainable reason for it, but of course, _he_ wasn't going to do it himself.

They'd spent the last few minutes looking around, and though they could definitely feel the small pocket of oddly cooler air, they could see no real cause for it. Mai swore she could feel some kind of presence around, but since that was more Masako's specialty than hers, she really couldn't say for sure.

Arako and Mai both turned when they heard someone come up the stairs, and were a little surprised to see Naru approaching them.

"What do you feel, Mai?" he asked before either of them could even open their mouths.

Mai blinked. "Oh, uh, I dunno, really. It just vaguely feels like there's someone else here."

"Good or bad?"

Mai cocked her head, understanding what Naru was getting at. "Hard to say," she admitted. "Kind of feels like both, to be honest." She shrugged. "You know I'm not as good as Masako or Gene when it comes to this sort of thing."

Naru frowned slightly and nodded, but didn't say anything for a moment. He looked down the hallway leading to the bedrooms, then turned back to them a few seconds later. "We may as well return to the Base."

Ayako was the first to do so, heading past them and making her way down the stairs. "I'm going to run outside for a smoke. Don't take too long up there."

"Okay," Mai called out in response. And when Ayako was out of sight, Mai looked over at Naru. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying. You keep staring down that hallway. Did you see something?"

"...A figure."

Mai's reaction to those words only surprised Naru. "Humanoid?"

He hadn't been expecting her to remain calm like this. She used to panic at these things before. "Yes."

Mai didn't turn, and kept her eyes on her boss. "Male or female?"

"Too indistinct."

"Is it still there?"

"Yes."

"Is it moving?"

"No."

"Where is it?"

"Directly outside the last room."

"Is it looking in our direction or in the room?"

"The former. ...It's vanished now."

Hearing that, Mai finally turned to get a look down the hall herself. She didn't do it before because sometimes sudden movements startled or interrupted spirits, and considering Naru pretty much never saw spirits himself, she'd been curious to see what would happen. There was a camera pointing down the hall as well, so unless they were blocking it, it was very possible they'd finally managed to catch some clear evidence.

"Are you two still up there? Get back to the Base!" Ayako, returning inside the house, called up.

"We're coming!" Mai called back. "C'mon, Naru, let's go back," she said, making her way to the stairs. But just before she even stepped down onto the first stair, she felt something shove her roughly from behind.

Mai stumbled, heart leaping into her throat. But then she felt something else-a gentle but firm pressure on her chest, pushing her back, allowing her to regain her balance, where she grabbed hold of the banister immediately, Naru grabbing her arm from behind.

Neither of them had the chance to say anything, because a sudden voice sounded in Naru's ear, the tone gentle but also a little scolding.

_"Idiot, you're supposed to protect my sister."_

The immediate area dropped in temperature, and a soft breeze tousled their hair, almost as if someone was stroking their hair. While Naru tensed at the sensation, Mai only relaxed and looked over to her left.

When Naru did the same, he saw the same figure he had seen standing down the hall earlier, and he quickly realized that it was a dark entity. It wasn't Suzaku, but that meant-

"Shin-nii…"

Naru looked from Mai to the dark figure. It was obviously one of the negative ones haunting their client and the house, but as Naru looked at it, he saw a flicker of light and the entity's appearance changed. For barely an instant he saw an attractive man with a small smile on his face. And now Naru thought he understood at least a little bit of what was happening.

Shin wasn't evil. His darkness was caused by anger. Anger at the man who had hurt his sister. Anger at the man who had killed him. But that anger wasn't directed at their client.

No, if Naru's suspicions were right, Shin was angry not at Akira, but at another dark entity that was residing in the property. He was angry at Jack Midnight.

Naru was stunned by his revelation, and he barely even realized he was leading Mai downstairs and into the kitchen, where she promptly began preparing some tea, even without him asking her.

Right now, he was thinking that Jack had grown angry after his death and had possessed Akira multiple times, using him to get his revenge. Upon his own death, Shin must have realized the truth and gone to haunt not Akira, but Jack. Or so he was thinking.

"Were you and Shin-san particularly close, Mai?" asked Naru suddenly.

Mai seemed a little surprised by the abrupt question, but nodded as she sat down on the counter next to the stove. "We were, yeah. At least, that's what I remember. He wasn't with us for very long, but i think he liked having younger siblings. Maybe that had something to do with all the kids he was surrounded by at the orphanage."

"Orphanage? Oh, that's right, he was adopted."

Mai nodded again, and absently fiddled with one of the button's on Naru's shirt, since he was standing in front of her. "I remember thinking he was really cool. I think May and Ryou-nii thought the same," she said with a smile. "I'm...glad he isn't fully dark."

Naru was glad about that too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Another very heavily edited chapter and, actually, the beginning of the chapter, up until Mai nearly falling down the stairs, is completely new and wasn't in the original at all. Comments? Kudos?


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

There was a lot on Naru's mind. Thoughts about the case. Thoughts about Mai. There were numerous pieces to this puzzle, and Naru knew they needed to be put together before they could truly continue with their case.

From what they had discovered so far, there were five spirits in the house: Jack, Suzaku, Shin, Ryou and May.

Of those five spirits, three of them were dark: Jack, Suzaku, and Shin. Two of them were more normal: Ryou and May.

All five of the spirits had some sort of reason to be in Akira's house.

It also seemed like all five of the spirits, dark or not, were connected to Mai and in fact, the entire case was, really.

As for the timeline…

The family was originally the Yaoshima family. For unknown reasons, Jack stayed with them for some years until his strange death. Mai seemed to vaguely recall May having something to do with it. The cause of death was still unknown, but there was certainly a chance that some sort of psychic ability or the like had something to do with it. If Mai had abilities, May also could have had them.

Though the death was no doubt an accident, May was frightened, at least according to Mai, which then led her to take the blame for the situation to protect May.

It was possible that Jack's spirit was near his body when Mai made this claim, leading him to believe that Mai was the one who had truly killed him. If he was incredibly attached to his life and angry enough, it made sense that he had, in a sense, lost himself in that anger and vowed for revenge against Mai.

Approximately a year later, Jack's spirit possessed Akira, using him to hurt the rest of the family, focusing especially on Mai who had to be taken to the hospital due to the injuries.

Akira and Mai's mother probably weren't able to reconcile from what happened and quickly divorced. Her mother then remarried, and they then became the Taniyama family, consisting of Mai's mother, her step-father, her adopted older brother Shin, her older brother Ryou, and herself and her twin sister May.

Some months later, Jack struck again, likely possessing someone who then kidnapped Mai. Shin managed to rescue his sister, but was shot and killed in the process, and he then began haunting Jack, who in turn, was haunting Akira, though that was probably because he wanted to be able to possess him whenever he saw the chance to get more revenge.

That chance came yet again a few months later, when Jack again possessed Akira, and this time had him kill Mai's step-father and older brother Ryou.

Three years after that, Suzaku, Mai's step-father's brother was killed. Unfortunately, they knew little about that-Madoka and Yasuhara were still looking for more information. Whether Akira was involved they weren't sure, but it was fairly safe to say Jack had something to do with it, considering Suzaku's spirit was also in the house. The only real clue they had was Gene saying the same person was behind it, but whether he meant Jack or Akira, they weren't sure.

Another three years later, Jack once again possessed Akira and used him to kill Mai's mother and twin sister. At school that day, Mai wasn't harmed herself. At this point the spirits of both Ryou and May arrived at this house as well.

Somewhere between all of this, Yaoshima Akira changed his name to Hideki Kiyoshi, and he still had no contact with Mai. Jack was clearly still doing something here, but he seemed to have decided to leave Mai alone, because she hadn't mentioned any more incidents since she was ten.

Naru sighed inaudibly. There was quite a bit of information to go over. While it was true they had a number of facts, there was still much speculation as well, and that wasn't helping things. The facts were correct, of course, but the same couldn't be said about the speculations.

Naru sighed again, a little louder this time. He had to speak to Mai. He had to tell her the truth. They weren't going to be able to solve this if she didn't know.

No, that wasn't true. They _could_ still solve it, but Mai needed to know the truth. This was her life, after all.

"Mai."

She glanced over at him. "Yes?"

"…Come with me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Barely five minutes later, Naru and Mai were holed up in one of the bedrooms, Naru trying to get himself to stop stalling and Mai wondering why they were even in here.

"Um, Naru? What's wrong? Did something happen?" Naru had a weird look on his face, the expression something Mai couldn't quite place, though it was starting to make her a little apprehensive. It couldn't mean anything good, she was sure about that.

Naru had no idea how to begin this conversation. He knew the truth was going to hurt Mai, and though he didn't _want_ to do it, he also knew he had to do what was right. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to talk himself into starting.

"You said you're now aware that the man who died alongside your brother Ryou was your step-father, right?"

"Y-yes?"

"Do you remember your biological father at all?"

Slowly, Mai shook her head. "Not really. He and mom divorced right after the Jack stuff, I guess, and I was only three."

Naru wasn't surprised to hear that. "You said the name Yaoshima Akira sounded familiar, didn't you?"

Mai wasn't sure she liked where this was going. "Un..."

Naru hesitated for an instant, then said, "The reason you recognize it is because it's the name of your biological father. Yaoshima was your original surname."

Mai blinked, Naru's words taking a moment to fully register in her mind. "But...didn't we say that Yaoshima Akira is Hideki-san's real name?"

"Yes."

"Then, are-are you saying that our client is my biological father?"

"I am," said Naru.

"But...Naru, before, you said that our client may have killed my family," said Mai slowly, her hands pressed to her bosses chest so that she could look at his face. "If he's my father, then does-does that still stand?"

"It does," said Naru reluctantly. "In fact, we now know that it's true."

"True...?"

So Naru told her everything he knew. Everything they had learned, everything he had deduced. He told Mai all of it, watching her face carefully. Mai didn't say a single word as he spoke. She remained still and silent, eyes locked on his until he finally finished speaking and fell silent.

After a long moment, Mai said, "So, what you're saying is that-that everything that happened is-is _my_ fault? Me taking the blame for what May did started _all_ of this?"

"That's not true."

"But-"

Naru took Mai's hands in his own, and when he spoke again, his voice was steady and firm. "This isn't your fault," he said. "Even if you hadn't taken the blame, Jack's spirit would have reacted the same way, only he would have specifically targeted May instead. This is not on you, and nor is it truly on May either. This is Jack. It has always been Jack."

"We have to get rid of him."

"We do." Naru was a little surprised that Mai hadn't begun to cry, but then again, maybe she was all cried out by now. The thought of that honestly kind of hurt.

"Where is he?"

Naru didn't even blink at the question. He knew exactly who Mai was talking about, but he hesitated. "Mai-"

"Don't worry," she said, "I won't freak out on him or anything. I just...want to see him. He-he isn't just our client anymore."

Naru acknowledged that, of course, but still, he hesitated. But Mai noticed that, naturally, and she was the one to smile at him reassuringly.

"It's alright," she said softly. She leaned into him and kissed him gently. "I promise."

Finally, Naru relented. "Downstairs, in his office."

Mai stood. "Let's go pay him a visit, then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Another highly edited chapter. Comments? Kudos?


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Though still somewhat reluctant, Naru led Mai over to their client's office. And once they were standing outside the door, Naru turned to Mai and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mai?"

Mai nodded. "I _need_ to do this," she said. She smiled slightly. "Don't worry, boss, I won't let him know what we're on to."

That wasn't what Naru was worried about at all, but unsure of what else he could possibly say, he just relented and knocked on the door. They stepped in when called, and found Akira seated behind his desk, which was completely covered in papers.

...Mai's desk was always a mess like that too.

"Oh, hello," said Akira looking up at them. "What can I do for you?"

Mai froze, staring at the man in front of her, and Naru decided to take the initiative and speak for her, since she clearly couldn't do so herself right now.

"The camera needs to be checked," he said calmly. "The angle needs tweaking and the tape my have to be changed."

Akira nodded. "Of course, please, go ahead," he said, gesturing over at the corner they had set up the camera.

Giving Mai's shoulder a brief squeeze, Naru moved off to the corner of the room, leaving Mai standing where she was on her own.

Mai took a breath, and said, "Kiyoshi-san?"

Akira looked up at Mai, who suddenly found herself struggling to mask her surprise. Akira's eyes, both the colour and the shape were exactly the same as her own. She hadn't noticed it before because she hadn't been paying attention, but now, it was hard _not_ to notice.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind me asking something?"

"Not at all."

"Do you…not have a family?" asked Mai hesitantly. "You know, a wife or kids?"

Akira looked at Mai with interest. "You're a curious young lady, aren't you?"

Relieved by the fact that he didn't seem angry, Mai smiled, which, in turn, caused Akira to frown.

"Is something wrong?" asked Mai.

"No…it's nothing," said Akira, rubbing a hand over his face. "Your smile just reminded me of-of someone."

"May I ask who?"

"My daughters," said Akira after a pause. "They were twins."

"Oh, I-I see." What could she possibly even say to that, Mai wondered.

"They've long since passed away, you see," said Akira quietly, "along with my ex-wife."

"Ex?" asked Mai, feigning surprise. Hiding her pain too. Her father thought she was dead.

Akira seemed a little surprised, as if suddenly realizing that he had spoken out loud. "Yes," he said eventually. "We divorced a long time ago."

"I-I'm sorry about that. About all of it," said Mai sincerely.

Akira smiled slightly, but then said, "I wonder how they all died…? My wife, my son, my girls…"

Mai blinked in surprise and exchanged a glance with Naru, who was still standing by the camera, pretending that he wasn't listening.

"You mean, you don't know?"

Slowly, Akira shook his head. "I have no clue how it happened." He grimaced. "To be honest, I barely even remember those days."

"That must be hard…"

"It is," said Akira. "Very hard. My son was only eight when he died and the girls were both ten when they passed a few years later. I…wish I'd been able to see them one last time, at least. I- I would have liked to be able to tell them how much I loved them."

Noticing the expression on Mai's face, Naru decided that it was time to get out of here. "Thank you, Kiyoshi-san," he said. "We'll be heading back to the Base now."

"Of course."

"Mai, come on." Taking Mai's hand, Naru led her out of the office, noticing and ignoring the saddened expression that crossed Akira's face when he heard Mai's name.

When they had made it down the hall and far out of earshot, Naru turned to Mai and gently, said, "Are you alright?"

Mai nodded, wiping away the few tears that had managed to escape during their short walk. "That was kinda hard," she admitted.

"I can imagine."

"But-" Mai looked up at him. "He said he doesn't know what happened, and that he barely even remembers those days. Does that mean he doesn't know that he was possessed and-and that he was the one who did it?"

"People rarely have any recollection of being possessed," said Naru. "I won't be surprised if he's suspicious of himself. I would be, in his case."

"Yeah," said Mai. "I guess the police aren't suspicious though. Maybe they were bribed into not investigating properly?"

"Perhaps," Naru agreed. "But I also won't be surprised if that has something to do with his name change. Seeing as there are no real records of Hideki Kiyoshi, it's unlikely the change was entirely legal."

Mai nodded, not sure what else to say to that. "So, what're we going to do?"

"I don't know yet," said Naru. "I'll have to see."

Placing a hand on the small of her back, Naru led Mai back to the Base in contemplative silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Apparently I posted this an hour before my law exam. Most people would have been doing last minute cramming and here I was updating a fanfic. This shit is why I was crap in school. Don't be like I was. Study for your exams, kids. Seriously. Thank you to all readers so far!

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully with little happening with both the team and the spirits in the house. Naru and Mai were asked about what they'd been up to and, after a bit of hesitating, Mai filled them in on what Naru had told her and the brief conversation she'd had with Akira-with her father.

"Ack!"

Bou-san yanked Mai into such a tight hug that Mai wondered if she had just broken a rib or two. "Bou-saaaan!"

"I think you're hurting her, Takigawa-san," said John, who seemed to have noticed Mai's pain, although he was smiling at the sight of them.

The monk realized what he was doing and loosened his grip. "Sorry, sorry! It's just-"

Mai smiled, understanding. "It's alright, don't worry. It's fine." They all knew she wasn't just talking about the hug.

But they fell silent after that, everyone losing themselves in their own thoughts and activities. The case was on their minds of course, but the longer the silence went on for, the more uneasy Mai found herself becoming. Their team was busy thinking, but what were the spirits doing? Why were _they_ being just as quiet?

Mai didn't like it at all. She couldn't possibly say why, but to her, it felt like something was going to happen soon. Something major. Something bad. Very bad.

* * *

The silence from earlier was non-existent during dinner that night. The team sat together in the dining room as they ate, listening to Mai recount something that had occurred to her friends some time ago.

"-so Michiru pretends to be scared and starts trembling, and then she screams and points behind Keiko and goes, 'It's b-b-behind you!' And then Keiko looks over, cause now she's scared too and-"

Mai went on with her story of the time Michiru had played a ghostly prank on Keiko. It was actually quite funny, which explained why Bou-san, Yasuhara, and Madoka were choking on both their food and their laughs, while tears of mirth steamed down their cheeks. John and Ayako were laughing too, but were being a bit more polite about it.

In fact, this anecdote was so funny that it even managed to draw a deep chuckle out of the always stoic Lin, which was certainly more than a little surprising. Narcissistic Naru was the only one who remained completely and utterly unfazed though, which wasn't exactly odd or anything.

"Well you all seem like you're having fun," came a voice from the doorway.

They greeted Akira cheerfully and soon enough, he had joined them at the table. Pretty soon, they were all enjoying themselves once more, even with the new addition, though they were careful not to say anything about their current case.

Akira and Mai were quite similar, the team soon realized. Both were kind, cheerful, and fun to be around. They got along very easily, though considering they were father and daughter, even though he didn't know it, it wasn't all that unexpected. Even some of their mannerisms were the same. It was actually somewhat fascinating.

Akira was politely interested in what they did and was soon telling them about the paranormal events he had experienced as a child back in his old home.

Sitting with him now, it was hard to believe that Yaoshima Akira was going to be dead by the end of the week…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

As Mai finished up her bath later that night, she found herself thinking and remembering.

When Akira had walked into SPR the other day, calling himself Hideki Kiyoshi, she remembered getting an odd feeling about him. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, since she'd had other things on her mind, but thinking back on it now, she was finally realizing what that feeling was. It was familiarity. And now that she knew the truth, well, it explained a lot.

Leaving the bathroom, Mai was heading towards her room when she came across Naru leaving his own room. He was still in his day clothes, but he had a towel over his arm-no doubt he was going to take a bath now too. But she paused in place, watching him as he turned to say something to Lin, who was still in the room.

He was paler than usual, she noticed. It was making his hair and eyes look a lot darker than they were. It seemed like this case was affecting him more than she'd been thinking. That...kind of made Mai a little sad. They'd all been so focused on her, but Mai hadn't bothered making sure the rest of them were handling things alright.

The case couldn't possibly been going any easier for them than it was her, after all.

"Are you going to stand there staring at me all night, or do you intend to return to your room any time soon?"

Startled out of her thoughts, Mai found Naru standing right in front of her now, and blushed furiously. "U-um, sorry." The embarrassment faded, and just as Naru made to move past her, Mai blurted out, "Do you think I'll ever be able to tell him who I really am?"

Naru didn't have to ask her to elaborate. "I can't say. Honestly, a lot of it will depend on how the case goes and what else we can learn." He hesitated slightly, then decided to be blunt. "You have to realize that even if he was possessed and fully unaware of what he was doing, he can still easily be imprisoned for their deaths. Possession is not exactly an accepted alibi."

"Who would blame him though?" said Mai with a frown. "We're the only ones who know, and we aren't going to go tell the police about it or anything, are we?"

"No, but there is no guarantee Akira-san won't do the same."

"What- What do you mean?" asked Mai, startled.

"I'm not pretending to speak for him, Mai, and I'm not saying that it's definitely what he might do, but it's very possible that even though it was a helpless situation, he may still feel guilty about it. He may feel as if he deserves to be punished for what he did."

"But he didn't do it," protested Mai. "Jack did it!"

"I know, Mai," said Naru with a sigh, reaching out to drag his fingers through Mai's hair. "I know he was possessed. I know that what happened wasn't technically his fault, but Mai…it was his family."

Mai buried her face into Naru's chest, clutching his shirt. "I know! I know that dammit, but still!"

Naru released another deep sigh, before wrapping his arms around her. "It'll be alright, Mai. We'll work this out, alright? All of us."

Mai nodded slowly, glad for the uncharacteristic show of concern and comfort. "Un…"

"Just sleep for now, okay? We'll try and figure things out in the morning."

Mai pulled away and nodded. "Yeah, okay. Good night, Naru." A light flush appearing on her cheeks, she leaned up and touched her lips to his gently.

Naru smiled inwardly and reached out, cupping the back of Mai's head and bringing her into another kiss, pleased when Mai readily parted her lips for him. She tasted of toothpaste, he noted, and she was gripping his shirt again, and that adorable muffled sound of pleasure went straight to his head.

Naru was the one to pull away first. Mai's eyes were still closed, her lips were red and parted and she was still a little breathless and-dammit. No. He had to stop this now.

"Good night, Mai."

Watching him go down the hall, Mai wondered how the jerk thought she'd be able to sleep at all after _that_!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Shin was feeling restless. That wasn't odd, really. One of the reasons he was even still here was because he was restless. But it was different tonight. Worse.

He couldn't say why, but something was telling him to check up on everyone in the house-everyone still alive, that is. They were going to be asleep, he knew, considering it was half past four in the morning, but even then, he had to make sure they were okay, even though he had no idea _why_ he felt like he had to.

He went to Mai's room first, and found her fast asleep in bed. Ayako was next to her, also asleep. Both of them were oblivious to his presence and Shin preferred to keep it that way as much as possible.

Shin left the room and went around through the others. Everyone was, predictably, fast asleep, none of them realizing he was there. But though they didn't notice him, Shin noticed something else instead. He was being watched.

Shin looked around, trying to see who was watching him, but he didn't see anyone, alive or dead. He knew he was right though, the feeling was too intense for him not to be. He was definitely being watched. No, no, it was more than that. He wasn't _just_ being watched, he realized abruptly.

He was being hunted.

* * *

Mai woke suddenly, choking on her own sob. Ayako was right in her face, shaking her roughly, no doubt having woken her up, her face pale and filled with concern.

"Mai! Talk to me, what's happened?"

"Jack-he-"

"Mai?"

"He de-devoured Ryou-nii and May's spirits! They're gone! They-they're both gone!"

Ayako paled even further. "How do you know that?" she asked intently.

"Gene showed me," said Mai, trying to ease her breathing and calm down. "Just now, he called me to him, and he-he showed me what was happening. He said he can't do anything to stop it, but that Jack's doing it to make himself stronger."

They both knew what that meant. Jack was planning on doing something big. And soon.

* * *

Seeing as it was already dawn, neither Ayako nor Mai bothered going back to sleep and instead, got out of bed and began preparing for the day. Naru and Lin were both going to be up soon anyway, and the sooner they told them about what had happened, the better.

Ayako dragged Madoka (who was staying in the fourth room they hadn't been using) out of bed to help her prepare breakfast, while Mai headed to the Base. Naru and Lin would go there first, before going to the dining room, so she was going to wait for them there instead.

As predicted, Mai only had to wait for ten minutes before Lin walked in. He paused when he saw her, and then inclined his head politely.

"Good morning, Mai-san. Is something wrong? You are rarely awake this early."

"Morning, Lin-san, and yes, something definitely happened. I was waiting for you or Naru to come in so I could tell you."

"What happened?" he asked just as Naru walked in, the younger one stopping in place when he heard the question.

"Gene called me just an hour ago," said Mai, looking at them solemnly. "He showed me Jack devouring the spirits of both-both Ryou-nii and May."

Surprise crossed both faces, but it was masked quickly enough, and they listened in silence as Mai told them exactly what she had seen in her dream. Like Mai and Ayako, Naru and Lin were also thinking along the same lines. Jack was absolutely planning something.

As soon as breakfast was done, Naru began delegating orders. "Madoka, Yasuhara-san, I want the two of you to find out everything you can about Jack Midnight. It doesn't matter what you find. Even the smallest detail can help."

"Yes, boss!" exclaimed Yasuhara with his customary salute.

"On it, Noll!"

Yasuhara and Madoka stood and spoke for a moment before departing. Everyone else remained where they were, wondering what they were going to have to do.

"Lin, I want to do an EVP session."

There was a pause as Lin looked at Naru in something akin to apprehension. "It has been a while since you last did that, Noll," said Lin. "Are you sure that is the best way to proceed?"

EVP's were something that Gene did more than Naru and the last time they had done it, Gene had been with them. They hadn't done another one since then and that was why Lin was unsure about it.

"I know and it is." If Naru was feeling any hesitancy about it, he wasn't showing it.

Lin nodded and got up, exiting the room to grab some stuff from the van and Naru now looked over at Bou-san, Ayako, and John.

"Do you recall how to take EMF readings?" When the three nodded, he went on. "Good. Take those meters, split up and get me the readings of every room in this house. Keep your eyes on the meters. I want the slightest fluctuation noted." They nodded once more and got to their feet, but before they could move, Naru added, "Remain cautious. Jack is…dangerous."

When Bou-san, Ayako, and John had grabbed their EMF meters and clipboards, and departed the room, Mai turned slightly to look at Naru. "Things are starting to get serious now, huh?" she said softly.

"Yes, they are," said Naru. "I would rather you not go off alone anymore. It is difficult to say what Jack may do if he catches you on your own." And before Mai could say anything, Naru tugged her arm and pulled her close to him. "I don't want to lose you too," he murmured into her hair.

Mai had no response to that, and so she said nothing at all and simply returned the somewhat tentative embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Lin returned to the Base a few minutes later with a camera, recorder, MEL meter, and a REM pod. He put these down on the table by the couch where Naru and Mai were seated, and began setting them up so they could be used.

He placed the small recorder in the centre of the table, the MEL meter on its stand to the left of the recorder, and the REM pod on the right of the recorder. The camera was then placed where it would be able to capture all three devices in frame.

Finished, he turned to Naru. "Everything is ready, Noll. You will need to turn them all on when you begin."

Naru nodded and glanced over at the monitors, where he could see the others in the middle of their own work. "Make sure none of them enter the Base until we've finished. I want only Mai and myself in here during the session."

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Noll?"

"I am."

"Very well." With that, Lin left the room, shut the door, and then took position right across the hall, waiting.

Alone now, Mai cocked her head. "Naru, what're we doing? What's an EVP? What's a…REM pod?"

Naru glanced over at her. "You know what EMFs are, but not EVPs? I thought you had studied?"

"I did!" Mai defended. "But it was a while ago!"

"Well, do you remember anything you read about them?"

Mai sat there thinking. "EVP stands for…electronic voice phenomenon, right?"

Naru nodded. "Good. Now what exactly is an electronic voice phenomenon?"

"Umm…voices?"

"Yes. Go on."

Mai leaned back, biting her lip, deep in thought. "Voices…you may not hear with your own ears at the time. I think."

Naru gave her a small smile, which showed that he was pleased. "That's exactly it. Extremely vague, but it." The girl punched him when he smirked. "What? That's a praise, Mai. The simpler, the better. You made it easy enough for anyone to understand. Ow!"

"Hmph."

"Yes, well, EVPs are voices or noises we may capture on the recorder, voices or noises that we may not hear ourselves," said Naru. "Do you know why we can't hear them? No? It's because spirits speak on a higher frequency. A frequency that humans can't hear, though, there are counts of certain animals being able to do so."

"Riiiight! I remember now!" exclaimed Mai. She paused. "Then what's a REM pod? I'm sure I've never heard of that."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Naru plainly. "They're fairly new devices and not many people use them yet. Do you see that antenna sticking out of the base? Around that antenna is a sort of…bubble, I guess you can say."

"A bubble?" Mai repeated in confusion.

"An EMF bubble," said Naru. "If something comes within that bubble, it disrupts the field and the pod alarms. Watch."

Naru turned the pod on. "See? It's completely silent." He then brought his hand close to the antenna, as if he were about to grab it. The pod immediately began to light up and emit an alarm type sound. "This is exactly what will happen if a spirit attempts to get close to or touch it. Understand?"

"Yeah. That's kinda cool." Mai turned her attention to the meter. "Then what's that?" she asked. "I mean, it looks a lot like an EMF meter, but…"

"Good eye," said Naru, faintly impressed. He hadn't expected her to notice that. "A MEL meter is rather similar to an EMF meter, except this one measures temperatures as well as EMF. As you should know, spirits can cause temperature fluctuations as well as interfere with EMF. A MEL meter is capable of documenting both at the same time."

"Oh, I see," said Mai, staring down at the device curiously.

"So what we're going to do," said Naru, "is I'm going to turn all of these on, and then we'll ask a series of questions and listen back to see if we managed to capture anything on the recorder. While we're conducting the EVP session, we'll have to keep an eye on the MEL meter and the REM pod. Once everything's done, Lin will go over the camera's footage and we'll work from there."

"Got it," said Mai. She stared at him.

"What?" snapped Naru impatiently.

Mai smiled teasingly. "You've never explained things so willingly and…happily before," she said. "It makes it obvious that you really like what you do. It's cute."

Naru scowled. "Mai," he said warningly.

"What?" said Mai with a wide smile. "Do you want me to say that you're _not_ cute? Cause I'd be lying if I did. Watashi no Naru-chan wa kawaii desu!" And she leaned in and ruffled his soft black hair.

Naru made a noise that sounded almost like a growl, before he grabbed her by the wrists and pinned her down to the couch. His lips crashed onto hers in a desperate, heated kiss. Mai was slightly shocked by not only the abruptness, but also the intensity. Still, she reacted almost immediately, parting her lips and allowing the kiss to deepen.

Too caught up in the kiss, Naru didn't even notice that one of his hands was wandering, slipping under Mai's shirt and running up the soft skin of her belly.

"Mmmngh!" Mai broke the kiss and gasped when she felt Naru's hand cup one of her breasts. "Naru!"

Naru didn't stop. He captured Mai's lips again and pressed her further into the couch. Mai moaned into the kiss, gripping Naru's shoulders tightly, and just as Mai-

The REM pod's alarm went off, causing both of them to freeze at the sudden sound.

"I-I think you forgot to turn that off," said Mai breathlessly.

Naru scowled. "Apparently so." He pulled himself away from Mai and reached for it, only to pause.

Eugene Davis stood nearby, a smug smile on his face. There wasn't much colour to him, he was more like a shadow, yet there was a brightness surrounding him.

"I hate to break off what is clearly a happy time for the two of you, but I thought I'd remind you that you're supposed to be conducting an EVP session at the moment," said Gene with a grin. "I'm quite sure you'll have time to ravish one another later. Lin may get suspicious, you know. Don't think either of you want him walking in on you sucking face."

His grin faded into a more serious expression. "I also felt it would be wise to inform you that right now is the best moment to do this EVP session. It seems that Jack is in a rather decent mood, due to his earlier...feast," he said with a grimace. "All that remains is for you to pose the right questions."

And on that enigmatic note, Gene was gone, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. I guess this chapter was originally written when Resi 6 was coming out, because I mentioned the logo looked like a lady sucking off a giraffe. Anyway, comments? Kudos?


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Naru and Mai both cleared their throats and sat up, straightening their clothes and smoothing their hair, not looking at one another all the while. Once the blushes on both faces had died down, they returned to work mode.

If Gene had shown himself to them specifically to tell them to get on with it, then there was no doubt he was serious about it. If he said now was the best moment to do this, then the quicker they started, the better.

"So, uh, what kind of questions are we going to be asking?" said Mai, trying to remain focused.

Naru, who was attempting to do the same, said, "First, we will need to establish who is here with us. With Ryou-san and May-san…gone, we'll be communicating with Jack, Suzaku-san, or Shin-san. There are answers we need from all three of them."

Mai hesitated, wondering whether Naru was going to answer her. "Why did you suddenly decide to do an EVP session, Naru? We've never done it before."

Naru seemed to hesitate for a beat, before he said, "…I know. I haven't done one for a while now, but it just feels…right. I feel as if we _have_ to conduct an EVP session." He didn't know why he felt this way, and the confusion on his face was making that very clear.

Mai watched him, feeling both surprised and confused herself. She had never seen Naru be so hesitant before. But she didn't have a chance to ask him about it.

"Let's begin." Reaching over, Naru turned on the recorder, MEL meter, and camera, and he adjusted the REM pod, which was already on. Then, leaning back in his seat, he caught Mai's eye and nodded once, signaling that he was going to start.

"Shin-san, Suzaku-san, Jack, are any of you here with us?" He held up a hand, signaling that Mai not speak. Thirty seconds later, he said, "We need to give them time to answer us. If we speak continuously, we may not be able to hear their voices on the recorder, if they answer us, that is."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I think I remember reading something about that," muttered Mai. She looked around the room, thinking. The three spirits they were trying to communicate with were connected to her. Would they get better results if _she_ tried to speak with them? She voiced her thoughts out loud.

Naru considered for a moment. "Alright, Mai, you try to communicate with them. You're right, they may not want to speak to me, but they should want to talk to you. Go on."

Mai nodded. Who should she start with? Her brother? Her uncle? Jack? She supposed it would be easiest to talk to her brother, considering he had shown himself before, and even spoken to them. "Shin-nii? Are you here?"

Naru was slightly surprised at this. He hadn't expected Mai to begin with Shin. Though the most logical order was Shin, Suzaku, Jack, he had figured she would jump straight to Jack. "Mai, the MEL meter's spiking," he said suddenly. "It's at 1.0. The base reading was .2."

"Shin-nii, if that's you, can you come closer? We can't see you right now, or even hear you, but the stuff we have here on the table can help with that."

"1.3… 1.5… 1.6… 2.0. Temperature's dropped about three degrees," Naru noted.

"Why are you still here, Shin-nii? Why haven't you moved on?" Mai paused, as Naru had said, to give Shin a chance to answer. "Are you haunting Akira?"

During the next pause, the REM Pod began going off.

"Shin-nii, do you know what happened to May and Ryou-nii?"

"Shin-san, what happened the day you died?" asked Naru. "What happened after you told Mai to run?"

They weren't sure if they were getting any answers at all. They couldn't hear anything but that was the point, wasn't it? EVPs were things they couldn't hear with their own ears. Their equipment however, seemed to be catching fluctuations in both temperature and the electromagnetic field around them, and _something_ had to be causing that.

But suddenly, the MEL meter flat lined, returning to 0.2, and the temperature returned to normal, and the REM pod silenced.

"I think that's all we'll be getting from Shin-san," said Naru. "It takes a lot of energy for them to do stuff like this, so it isn't surprising that he can't communicate for long, if he was even able to at all."

"I understand," said Mai with a nod, hoping that her brother had said something. "Should I move on to my uncle?"

"Yes, I think that would be best."

Now focusing on her dead uncle, Mai began with the question that had been on her mind since he had passed away when she had been seven years old. "How did you die, uncle? They said you killed yourself, but that's not what happened, is it?"

Naru kept a close eye on the equipment as Mai asked her questions, but to his surprise, none of the equipment seemed to be picking anything up. Nothing at all. Mai seemed to have noticed this too, because she glanced over at him, as if asking him what to do now.

"Let's move on to Jack," said Naru.

Mai sighed. She understood why they had to do this, of course, but truth be told, she was nervous about this last one. What could she even say? She barely remembered Jack in the first place. All she _did_ remember was that she had never liked Jack, and had been a little scared of him. When she had come back into the room that day, he was dead, and her sister had been crying so hard. So when they had been asked what happened, she had said that she had done it.

But if Jack wanted revenge on her, why was he after her father? That was something she didn't understand. Why hadn't Jack simply come to haunt _her_ right away instead?

"Mai?"

Mai snapped out of her thoughts, surprised to find herself where she was. "Huh? Oh, Naru?"

"What is it? What's wrong?" Naru seemed a little confused.

With a small frown, Mai answered. "I…don't know what to say. I don't know what to ask Jack."

"This isn't a very difficult task, Mai."

But she shook her head. "You don't understand, Naru. My twin sister killed him and I took the blame for it! He possessed my father and had him kill my step-father and Ryou-nii, possibly also my uncle, and my mom and May, and he may have been involved with my kidnapping and Shin-nii's death too! What can I possibly say to that!?"

Naru, who had been listening to this in silence, closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Yes, Mai was right. This had to be hard for her. He hadn't realized it, hadn't really thought about it. He'd been so caught up in finding evidence and getting things done. Maybe it would be better if _he_ asked Jack the questions.

Deciding this was the best way, Naru opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the REM pod, which suddenly sounded off. Surprised, he focused on the equipment laden table.

The alarming on the pod was intensifying, the MEL meter was reporting an EMF of 9.3 and a seven degree temperature drop in the area around them. Well damn.

"N-Naru…?"

"Not now, Mai," said Naru, brushing his young assistant off.

"Dammit, Naru! Look!" Mai tugged his arm urgently.

Alarmed by her intensity, Naru looked up, only to see a dark, shadowy figure standing on the opposite side of the table. It stared down at them as they stared back at it, both too surprised to move. The figure simply stood there, giving off an odd and unpleasant aura.

And then it was gone, vanishing as fast as it had appeared. The equipment silenced and after a moment, was turned off. That had been such an odd experience, and both Naru and Mai hoped at least some of it had been documented. It was a good thing there was another camera placed in the room, because the camera facing the table wasn't positioned right to have captured the apparition.

"That- That was Jack, wasn't it?" asked Mai slowly, still trying to process everything that had just happened.

"I believe it was, yes," said Naru, thinking about the chain of events that had led up to them seeing the figure.

"Was he…making fun of us?"

Naru looked at her. "You felt that too?"

That pretty much answered Mai's question right there. She was very confused now though. Why had Jack been mocking them? What reason could he possibly have to do so? What was he doing? What was he planning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

It was a couple of minutes later that Naru opened the door to the Base, allowing Lin and the others, who had returned from whatever duties he had assigned them, in.

Without prompting, Lin immediately took the camera and recorder, and began to go through them to see whether any clear evidence had been caught during the EVP session.

While Naru sat in silence, Mai told the others about what had happened, along with her own thoughts on the matter.

"So you actually saw him…" Bou-san frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Bou-san shook his head. "It just feels like Jack is…upping up his game. It also seems like he's getting stronger and stronger as time goes by. I don't like it."

John seemed to agree with him. "It is as if Jack is preparing himself for something big," he stated, only to have Bou-san nod in agreement.

"But what's he getting ready for?" wondered Ayako.

The others shrugged, unsure. Jack was such a bizarre spirit, they all knew that he could be planning anything, but…what could that anything be? And the bigger question perhaps, was, would they be able to stop him?

"Noll."

"Have you found something?" Naru was immediately at Lin's side, and was quickly handed the headphones Lin was offering. Naru put them on and waited while Lin pressed some keys. Naru both watched and listened intently, a small frown appearing on his face.

It seemed he and Mai had succeeded in gathering quite a bit of evidence. Lin beckoned the others over, and they crowded around eagerly.

They heard Mai's voice come out of the speakers, deeper than it normally was due to the way Lin had enhanced it. 'Shin-nii, are you here?' Then they heard Naru's voice, reporting a spike in EMF.

_'…Ma…i…'_

The team looked at one another, amazed. Mai blinked, evidently surprised.

"Did he- Did he just say my name?"

"That is what it sounds like," said Lin with a nod.

Yasuhara frowned. "Or did he say 'hai'? They both _do_ sound really similar."

" 'Mai' or 'Hai', they're both relevant and intelligent answers," said Naru.

They heard Mai asking her brother to come closer to them, and then Naru saying the EMF was getting higher, as well as reporting a temperature drop. Mai then asked Shin why he was haunting Akira.

_'No… I'm… ng _ _ck…'_

The group frowned, and they all closed their eyes and listened intently as Lin played that bit again, knowing they hadn't caught it.

"Oh! 'No, I'm haunting Jack'!" exclaimed Bou-san suddenly.

Naru's eyes widened and then narrowed. Was that what he had said? He had heard something else. "Lin, play it once more."

Lin complied, played the sequence again, and noted how everyone was listening closely, trying to hear what the monk had heard.

"He's right," said Naru abruptly. "Apparently, we have a spirit haunting another spirit." He wasn't entirely surprised. He'd already been thinking that earlier, but this was the confirmation he'd been wanting.

"Is that possible?" asked Mai with a frown.

"It is rare, but not unheard of."

They continued to listen. They heard Mai ask Shin whether he knew what had happened to Ryou and Mai. They got another response.

_'I… couldn'_ pro_ _ct th_m…'_

Though they couldn't hear it clearly, it was pretty obvious what was being said. Everyone looked at a teary eyed Mai. Her dream had been accurate then. Ryou and May were definitely gone for good. Lin decided it was probably best to continue, and did just that.

They heard Naru's voice, once again enhanced, ask Shin about what had happened the day he had died, and what had occurred after he had told Mai to run.

_'Aki_ _ sho_ _ _. _ tri_ _ _ run, _ _ _ Jac possess _. _ _ was_ _ Akira, but Mai w_s _ _fe. Tha_ _as goo_.'_

"Wha-? That sounds like gibberish," said Ayako.

"It isn't." Naru seemed to have figured it out. 'Akira shot me. I tried to run, but Jack was possessing him. It wasn't Akira, but Mai was safe. That was good'."

"And that's why Shin-nii's after Jack," said Mai slowly, suppressing a sob.

And more, thought Naru, proof that the person who had kidnapped Mai was a possessed Akira, and not a possessed teenager, as they had been thinking. The reason they'd been thinking that was because witnesses had described a teenager skulking around at the time of the kidnapping, but perhaps they'd been suspecting Shin all along.

The questioning for Suzaku then began, and though their equipment hadn't picked anything up, their recorder had. A voice did come through, and it was such an odd voice that Mai didn't even have to tell them didn't belong to her uncle for them to realize it.

_'I killed him… I ate him… He's gone!'_

The voice had come through so clearly that it had even surprised Naru, who hadn't heard a Class A EVP in a long time.

"I knew it," said Mai softly. "I knew he didn't commit suicide. Jack-he killed him too."

They then watched Jack's apparition manifest on the other end of the room. None of them liked what they were seeing.

And despite what Naru and Mai had been thinking, Jack hadn't just stood there staring at them mockingly. He had said something as well. He said something that immediately made their blood run cold.

_'One, two, three on Akira!'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

"Dad!"

Shocked to the core by what she had just heard, and terrified that something may have happened to her father, Mai ran out of the room, not bothering to heed the warning calls behind her. She rushed to her father's office, somehow knowing that he would be there.

He was. And what was more, he was fine.

The door was open and Mai stood there staring at him in a mixture of relief and confusion. He was…fine? She blinked, rubbed her eyes, then blinked again. Akira was still sitting there, submerged in whatever it was that he was doing.

Not wanting him to notice her, Mai stepped back and away from the door, confusion still evident on her face. Before she could do anything else though, Naru ran up to her.

"You idiot! How many times have I told you not to run off like that? What if something happened to you?"

"Naru, he's fine."

Now it was Naru's turn to blink in surprise. He craned his neck and glanced into the room, only to see the man inside pacing back and forth, an official looking document in his hand. Naru pulled back and Mai saw that he seemed just as confused as she was.

Akira was alright…?

They returned to the Base in silence, and Mai told the others that her father appeared to be alright and completely unaware of what was happening.

"Maybe Jack was just playing with us," said Yasuhara, who had just returned a few minutes ago. "Can spirits do that?"

When Naru didn't say anything, John answered. "They can, yes. But I don't think that Jack would do something like that just because he felt like it. There must have been a reason for it."

"He's...planning on killing my father, isn't he?"

Everyone looked over at Mai, who was staring back at them almost defiantly. The look in her face clearly said that there was no way that she was going to let anything happen to her father. No fucking way. They then glanced at one another, before they all focused on Naru.

"We're going to have to take turns with guard duty," he said. He looked over at Mai. "I'm not going to let anything happen to him, Mai." He seemed quite determined about this too.

* * *

Naru's 'guard duty', meant just that, and Bou-san, Ayako, and John were the only ones actually taking part in the 'guarding'. Mai and Yasuhara couldn't defend themselves, let alone anyone else, and Naru needed Lin to man the monitors because he was too busy, leaving the monk, miko, and priest. To their credit though, none of them complained ever once.

Madoka had sent Yasuhara back to them, and he told them that they had a lot of trouble finding any more information on Jack, and that Madoka was still looking and would contact them if she found anything, though she also had other urgent business to attend to, and wasn't going to be able to return unless strictly necessary. Since she had mostly come to help them with research though, they didn't really need her to be there in person for it.

But in the meantime, and probably so he could feel like he was actually doing something instead of sitting around, Yasuhara went through whatever notes he already had, hoping he would find something he hadn't noticed before.

With nothing to do herself, Mai sat there in the Base, twiddling her thumbs, literally. She had so many feelings coursing through her, anxiousness and fear just being two of them, but she didn't know how to behave. Of course she had faith in her friends, but she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen anyway.

It was something she felt more in her gut than in her head or even her heart, but she couldn't really explain it. Bou-san, Ayako, and John were pretty good, after all, but even then...

Naru glanced over at Mai for the umpteenth time, and noted that she still looked worried. Distracted as she was, her abilities were not going to work properly right now and he was sure of that. There would be interference, which wasn't good at all, for anyone, really.

She needed a distraction. A good, proper one that would bring her attention to something completely unrelated to her father, and something that didn't require too much thinking. He knew just the thing.

"Mai. Tea."

Mai jumped at her boss' sudden command. The Base had been so quiet and was filled with so much tension that she hadn't expected it. "H-hai!"

She got to her feet and made it to the door before she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back and saw Naru gazing back at her with solemn, blue eyes.

"I'm not letting you go alone, you fool." From her shoulder, Naru slid his hand down Mai's arm, to take her hand in his own. At this point, he didn't really care who saw what. All he knew was that he had to shift Mai's focus away from her father, guard duty, Jack's spirit, anything that had to do with Akira's potential life threatening situation.

The two of them wandered over to the empty kitchen, and Naru only released Mai's hand when she began preparing tea. He stood back against the counter, watched her move in that lovely way that she did, heard her humming softly as she worked, and it brought a small smile to his face.

Although, to be perfectly honest, he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering down to that damned torturous skirt of hers.

With the water set to boil, Mai slowly approached Naru, who said nothing and merely raised a brow in that Naruesque manner. Hesitantly, biting her lip, Mai brought her arms around him. After a moment, she felt Naru do the same.

Feeling that, Mai let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and focused instead on the sound of Naru's heartbeat.

She could feel it beating in a slow and steady rhythm. For some reason, it calmed her down. Mai relaxed considerably, something Naru noticed as well, but didn't comment on. Instead, he allowed his fingers to run down Mai's back, trying to keep the motion soothing.

The alarming sound of two screams filled the air, putting a sudden end to the brief moment of peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Naru and Mai wrenched apart at the sudden, shocking sound. Mai rushed to turn the stove off. This effectively cut off one scream, yet all that was left now was silence.

"Noll. Mai. Akira's room. Now!" Lin's voice sounded from the hall, booming with urgency.

They didn't hesitate, and immediately ran out the kitchen, around a corner, down the hall, and into what they knew to be Akira's bedroom.

The man of the house was flat on his back in bed, looking extremely pale with red staining his bare chest. He was conscious, but barely.

Ayako was hunched over him, yelling instructions out at the others, her hands bloody but steady. John and Yasuhara ran in and out of the room, arms laden with whatever the doctor needed. Lin aided her with what she was doing, occasionally brushing her hair away when it came in the way, as his hands weren't covered in blood like hers. And Bou-san stood at the foot of the bed, chanting in a loud, clear voice.

"…No!" Looking as pale as her father, Mai immediately rushed to his side, making sure to go to the opposite end of the bed that Ayako was at. Silently, Naru came up next to her. Unable to resist, Mai took the man's shaking hand into her own. "No…please don't leave me! Come on, dad, please!"

"Matsuzaki-san!"

"I'm working, dammit!"

Akira, now paler than ever, slowly turned his head to look at Mai. His eyes, which were so like hers, filled with sudden happiness. "Mai…" he said, his voice so very faint.

"Dad…" Mai didn't care about pretending anymore. She couldn't. Not now.

Akira smiled as much as he could with the pain he was obviously in. "Mai… You really are my-my Mai." Taking his hand away from hers, he cupped her face, wiping tears with his thumb. "I was right…all this time. You've g-grown so much… You've become so very beautiful…" He took a shaky breath, followed by a wheezing cough.

"Matsuzaki-san!" Naru repeated, sounding more urgent now.

"Shut up! I'm trying!" There were beads of sweat on Ayako's forehead, and her face was contorted in serious concentration.

"All these years I-I thought you were gone…" said Akira softly. His eyes were locked on Mai, as if he couldn't even see anyone else in the room. "But just look at you-" he winced with a hiss of pain, and his breathing grew shallow.

"No! Dad, no, please! Ayako, please, please hurry!" Mai didn't care that she was begging and crying. He was dying-her dad was dying and that was all that mattered at the moment.

Ayako was working almost feverishly by this point, but everyone else just watched in silence. They had been doing whatever they could to help, but there was nothing more for them to do at the present time. Bou-san, who had considered the possibility of Jack attacking while they were all distracted, had put up a barrier to prevent him from doing just that, but now he too stood silently.

"Mai…my beautiful girl… Never- Never stop smiling…okay?" Akira's voice was barely audible by this point.

Mai let out a sob. "No! No, no, no, no! You can't leave me! You can't!"

"Dammit! Stay with me, Akira! Come on!" Ayako surprised the others with her sudden exclamation. She leaned in closer to her patient, swearing under her breath. Her pace quickened considerably.

Mai's crying intensified as soon as she realized what was happening. She was so scared, so sad, she didn't know what to do. Naru seemed to notice this. Though he didn't say anything, he placed a hand on her shoulder, the other slowly stroking up and down her back in a comforting manner.

"Mai, I love you…" Akira made an odd sound, somewhere between a gasp and a wheeze, before his breath caught. The light in his eyes as he gazed at his daughter suddenly vanished. The hand resting on Mai's cheek went slack and hit her lap.

Mai screamed. Her cry was just so anguished that no one knew what to say. Tears streamed down her cheeks and after a moment of hesitation Naru knelt down next to her, trying to gather her into his arms. Just as he had expected, she fought, and roughly at that. But after a moment, she simply went slack.

Naru just held her, silently allowing her to cling to him and cry. There was a darkness in his eyes that hadn't been there since Gene had died. Ayako was as limp as the girl. Her blood soaked hands were trembling and her expression was one of devastation. Lin seemed as expressionless as ever, but if one were to look at him closely, they would have seen a deep sadness on his face. John and Yasuhara were equally pale and equally surprised. They both stared, transfixed, at what used to be Akira.

"The kekkai won't hold for much longer guys," said Bou-san suddenly, surprising the others. Though it seemed otherwise, the monk was very upset by what had just happened, even more so owing to the fact that he had been the one guarding Akira when all this had happened in the first place.

"Mai…" It was Naru who spoke now, but he made sure to keep his voice gentle. "Come, we need to move."

"No! No, I won't leave him!" Mai was beyond devastated, and couldn't even think about leaving her father.

Naru however, grabbed hold of her firmly, and forcefully pulled her away from the bed, even as she fought against him. He pulled her trembling form against his, and locked eyes with his guardian. "Lin."

Lin nodded once. He knew it was going to be his responsibility to deal with Akira. He was going to call whoever needed to be notified, take care of everything. He was to do it all, and he would.

Naru meanwhile, decided it would be best to get Mai away from everyone else (though they may have thought otherwise) and led her up to the bedroom he'd been sharing with Lin, assuming Ayako would need a change of clothes in the room she and Mai were sharing.

He sat Mai down on the bed before joining her. He wasn't surprised to see that she was still crying, and he did the only thing he knew he could and just held her close.

Mai cried for a long time, but finally, pulled away slightly. There were tears staining her cheeks, and her eyes were all red and blotchy, yet she forced herself to meet her boss' eyes. "Naru…?"

"Yes, Mai?"

"Will you do something for me?" Her voice was thick, but firm.

"Anything," And he meant it. He really would do anything for Mai. Anything.

"Help me forget," she said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Naru froze as Mai's words rang through his head. He knew _exactly_ what she was asking. "Mai..." Naru hesitated, putting some space between them so that he could get a look at her face. "Do you realize what you're asking me to do?"

Mai shuddered once, harshly. "...Yes." She looked at him, eyes filled with tortured pain that was somehow twisted with desire. She may have been grieving, but she knew what she was doing-what she was asking for.

Naru continued to stare, unsure, but not entirely unwilling. "Mai," he said finally, "I don't want to do something that you'll regret later."

"I won't regret it."

Still, Naru hesitated. "Mai..."

"Please, Naru."

Naru's eyes fell shut. He wanted this, gods he wanted her. But this… It wasn't right, was it? Wouldn't he be taking advantage of her? She couldn't possibly be thinking straight right now. Not after what had just happened. But the traitorous part of his mind began to betray him. After all, she was the one asking for this-for him.

Those eyes remained closed when Naru began to feel Mai's hands on his chest. They were trembling. Despite this however, she began to unbutton his shirt. Once each button had been slowly undone, she pulled the shirt off, her hands coming to his bare chest immediately.

Naru was quickly forced to bite back a groan. Mai's trembling, inexperienced hands slowly mapped across his chest, feeling out every little detail, such as the scar below his left nipple that he'd gotten while playing with Gene when they had been ten.

Mai traced the scar gently, and then those fingers traveled up, pausing at his hardened nipples. She rolled them with her thumbs and Naru knew she had moved even closer to him now.

Naru was aware that she was trying to coax him into acting. But he didn't. He couldn't. Not now, not in her current condition. Yet when Mai's soft lips descended upon his flesh, he groaned. He had been craving this for so long, craving _her_ for so long. He wasn't going to be able to hold out for much longer.

The best thing to do would be for him to just get up and leave the room, but he couldn't bring himself to do that either. Mai needed a distraction, and he knew that, but even then...

Mai's lips and tongue traveled across Naru's chest, while her fingers slowly quested lower. When they reached the waistband of his pants, they paused for a moment, before going over and continuing. Though the fabric was clearly in the way, it didn't stop her, and neither did he.

But when Mai's questing fingers traced over the growing bulge in his pants, Naru suddenly felt his control break. He couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed her wrists, stopping her, and when she looked at him, surprised and confused, he kissed her, hard.

Mai immediately responded to the kiss and when Naru released her wrists, wrapped her arms around him. He did the same a moment later and pulled her flush against him, deepening the kiss, relishing her taste while he swallowed her soft moans.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Naru knew, even now, that this was wrong. As much as he wanted her, as much as she clearly wanted him, he knew he should wait for her grief to pass. He knew. But he didn't stop.

Slightly annoyed at himself, Naru tugged Mai's shirt and when she understood what he wanted, she helped him pull it off. He struggled not to fumble with the clasp at her back, but got it undone after a second and yanked this garment off as well, leaving Mai naked from the waist up, just like him.

Mai flushed but didn't stop him when he moved to touch, cupping both of those lovely breasts. He teased her in the same manner in which she had just been teasing him, and was pleased when she arched into his touch, clearly wanting more. He shifted them around so that she was on her back in the bed, and he moved to straddle her hips, never relinquishing his hold on her, unwilling to let go, now that he had her.

Dipping low, Naru took one of those little buds into his mouth, sucking lightly, rolling it with his tongue, nipping at it with his teeth. Mai moaned softly, her fingers tangling in Naru's hair as she silently begged for more.

Finished with one breast, Naru moved his attention to the other, as one of his hands began to snake downward. He reached the waistband of Mai's skirt, the skirt that had been torturing him for so long, and paused, hesitating once more.

"It's alright," said Mai softly from beneath him. "Don't stop, Naru."

Mere seconds later Mai was completely bare under him. She was blushing again, but didn't say anything, unsure of what to do at the moment. So she kept her brown eyes on Naru's face. He just stared at her for a moment, and her blush deepened under his silent scrutiny.

Embarrassed because Naru wasn't saying anything, Mai closed her eyes. There was a rustling of fabric and, curious, she opened her eyes again. Mai quickly felt as if her face was on fire. Naru had taken off the remainder of his own clothing, and was as naked as she was.

"Mai..."

Hearing the question in her name, Mai smiled gently, glad that he was at least making sure, even though she knew she wasn't about to stop him. "I haven't changed my mind, Naru," she said in a soft tone. "I want you. Only you."

Naru simply kissed her again as he slowly shifted her legs apart, needing better access. One of his hands slid down between her legs and Naru slowly slipped one then two fingers inside her.

Mai gasped out Naru's name, glad he was taking the time to prepare her when she knew she probably wouldn't have bothered doing it herself right now in her muddled state of mind.

And when Naru eased himself inside her a few minutes later, Mai's eyes fell shut on their own accord as she pulled Naru close to her, nails digging into his back while she tried to control her moans, not wanting anyone to hear.

She knew that even though she'd practically forced Naru into doing this, he was still holding himself back for her sake. She loved him for that. For his tender concern. Even though he didn't always show it.

Mai felt as if her blood had been replaced with champagne, bubbles flowing through her, making her feel all light and tingly. Those bubbles traveled from her head to her toes, filling her with so much pleasure that she could barely breathe.

"Naru! Naru! Naru!" She chanted him name as she reached her peak, unable to get anything other than his name out. Her toes curled and when Naru released a hiss of pain, she knew that she had broken the skin of his back with her nails. Yet she couldn't care less. Not when Naru was still moving inside her, his pace quickly losing its steady rhythm. She knew he was close.

Naru pulled Mai into another heated kiss and moments later, his body went ridged as his climax tore through him. He gasped out Mai's name and then collapsed on top of her, completely spent. Gathering his energy, he rolled off her and gathered her close, unwilling to let her go.

As they both began to doze off, Naru heard Mai's quiet, "Thank you, Naru. I love you." But before he could even think to respond, Mai was fast asleep, cuddling close to him.

Naru smiled slightly and gently pushed Mai's hair out of her eyes. His lips brushed over hers softly before he allowed sleep to claim him as well, hoping that, case or not, Mai didn't dream. She needed a break, and he was glad that he could give it to her, even if it was only for this one brief moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. I was awkward writing smut back then and I'm awkward writing smut now, though this is mostly unedited, to be honest. It wasn't bad enough for me to really need to change it, luckily, or else it would have taken a decade to redo. Comments? Kudos?


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

Mai was the first one to wake the next morning. She was surprised at first, when she noticed that neither she nor Naru, who she was currently cuddled up against, were wearing any clothes. It took her a moment to remember why, but when she did, a deep blush appeared on her face. She couldn't believe what she had asked Naru to do, but she was very happy that he had complied.

A careful knock later, the door opened and revealed Lin, who smiled in a surprisingly gentle manner when he saw that Mai was awake, even though she had sort of stolen his spot in the room last night.

Oops?

Approaching, Lin stopped nearby, respectfully keeping his eyes on Mai's face, rather than her bed sheet clad body. Naru slept away, completely oblivious, and their clothes lay at the foot of the bed, where they had unknowingly discarded them the previous night.

"Mai-san," greeted Lin softly. "I hope you slept well?"

The girl's hands tightened their hold on the bed sheet as Mai recalled what else had occurred the previous day. Unable to say anything, she simply nodded, receiving a smile in return.

"Breakfast is nearly ready," said Lin after a moment, "and we have much to discuss. A warning though, Noll is a heavy sleeper, and waking him is always quite a task."

That managed to get a small smile from Mai, who nodded once more. Responding in kind, Lin left the room. Mai sighed when he was gone, and looked over at Naru, who was still fast asleep and hadn't seemed to have noticed a thing.

She couldn't help but smile again when she saw Naru sprawled out on the bed, sheets pooled around his waist, leaving his back completely bare. Giving into temptation, she leaned in closer and began running her fingers down Naru's spine.

"Naru," she said softly, continuing to run her fingers up and down his back. As expected, he didn't even stir. Wondering what she would have to do to wake him up, Mai called his name again. Still, Naru didn't react. She poked him this time-right in the back of the head. When this too garnered no reaction, she pouted a little. "Naru, if you don't wake up, I'm going to draw a mustache on your face in permanent marker."

This time, Naru's eyes snapped open. "Don't. You. Dare."

Mai laughed. It was so like Naru to react only when his perfect visage was at stake. "Lin-san says it's time to get up," she said once she'd calmed. "He said we have a lot to talk about."

Nodding, Naru sat up and stretched, causing Mai to flush at the sight. "How are you feeling, Mai?" he asked, now focusing on her.

Mai just shrugged. "Alright..."

Naru smiled softly and ran his fingers down her cheek. "It'll get easier. Trust me." Of course, he knew she likely already knew that.

Mai nodded. She knew he was right. After all, this wasn't the first time she'd lost a family member. She hadn't felt like this since she'd lost her mother and sister all those years ago.

Naru and Mai freshened up and dressed for the day before heading out in search of the rest of the team. They found them seated around the table in the dining room, all chatting quietly. Mai received many soft smiles when she and Naru joined them. Oddly enough, she looked the most rested out of them all.

Bou-san in particular looked on if he had been to hell and back, and it was with a jolt that Mai remembered that it was the monk who had been guarding her father when the attack had occurred. She was going to have to talk to him soon, and let him know that she didn't blame him and didn't want him blaming himself.

The team continued to chat while they ate, discussing anything and everything except their current case. Clearly no one wanted to bring them all back to the terrible situation that was their reality. Unfortunately, terrible though that reality was, they had no choice but to return to it.

When Naru called for more tea, it was Bou-san who volunteered to go to the kitchen with Mai. As soon as the kettle had been put on, Bou-san dropped to his knees in front of Mai, and took her hands in his.

"Gods, Mai, I'm so sorry," he said, looking more than a little upset. "I was supposed to be protecting him. I was supposed to make sure nothing happened to him. I can't even imagine how much you must hate me right now!" he rambled on, unable to hear the girl's attempts to stop him.

"Bou-san. Bou-san!" Wrenching a hand out of his grasp, Mai gave his hair a sharp tug, satisfied she had his full attention when he hissed in pain. "Bou-san, look at me. It's not your fault, okay? I'm not blaming you for anything. No, shh-just listen." She paused, making sure he was doing just that. "You didn't hurt him. That damn spirit did, and he's the one I blame for this. Not you."

"But it cost you your father, Mai," said Bou-san imploringly. "And you only just found out about him too."

Mai shrugged half-heartedly. "You can't miss what you've never had, right? I thought I had lost him a long time ago." She stroked his hair now, as if in apology for having pulled it. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, okay? Because I don't."

Bou-san opened his mouth to speak, but was inadvertently cut off when the kettle sounded. He got to his feet and watched Mai finish preparing tea. Her emotional strength truly was formidable. It really was almost embarrassing how much stronger she was than the rest of them, while they were the adults.

Upon entering the Base, Mai and Bou-san found the rest of the team crowded around Lin's monitors. On these monitors, paused on screen, was Akira. The monk heard Mai suck in a sharp breath, but watched her square her shoulders, jaw set, and step forward to pass out the tea.

Strong indeed, he thought with a small smile. Out loud, he said, "What's going on?"

"We decided it would be best if we watched the footage of what happened to-to Akira-san last night," said John, blue eyes flickering over to Mai as he spoke.

Everyone looked over at Mai with various degrees of hesitation and concern, but it was Naru who spoke first.

"You don't have to do this part, Mai," he said surprisingly gently.

Mai however, was not about to have any of that. "I want to see it," she said firmly.

Naru and Mai stared at one another for a moment, before the former inclined his head. "Very well. Come here then."

Lin waited until everyone was near enough to see, before pressing play. Nobody spoke, the entire team watching intently.

_Bou-san and Akira were alone in the latter's room. They were speaking quietly about this and that, and both seemed perfectly at ease. Clearly neither of them sensed any sort of threat nearby. Akira suddenly gasped, and Bou-san immediately asked him what was wrong._

_"My chest. It burns...!"_

_Frowning, Bou-san stood up and had only just begun to approach Akira, when he froze abruptly. "You're bleeding!"_

_And indeed blood was beginning to stain the man's blue shirt, quickly staining it crimson. Both men tore at the fabric, needing to see what was wrong. They could do nothing more than stare when they finally managed to get Akira's shirt off._

_There were gashes on the man's chest, two deep gashes that were bleeding badly. Even as they stared, two more appeared, making Akira cry out in pain. They weren't scratches-no-they were far worse. It looked as if they were being gouged with a knife._

_"Ayako! Get in here!" Bou-san yelled out, guiding Akira to the bed._

_"What do you wan-what the hell's going on!?" Ayako rushed to the bed just as Lin, John, and Yasuhara came into the room-all three freezing at the sight before then._

_Bou-san yelled at them to help Ayako, while he positioned himself at the end of the bed and began chanting. Ayako, hands already bloody, barked out orders that the others followed immediately and without any hesitation. And during this, Akira only grew paler._

_"Someone get Mai," said Ayako abruptly._

_Everyone stopped all movement for an instant before Lin nodded and left the room, his urgent yell for Naru and Mai sounding mere seconds later._

And the rest of the scene played out, the team watching intently in solemn silence. Naru was holding Mai close to him, running a soothing hand down her back as she, along with the rest of them, watched her father die once more.

When a short, clipped laugh sounded, brows furrowed in confusion. The Mai on screen released an anguished cry when her father went limp, and the laugh sounded again. Loud, maniacal laughter that raised the hairs on the back of their necks. A laugh that was easily recognizable as belonging to Jack Midnight.

When the screen went blank, the team made sure Mai was alright before focusing on their young boss. One of his hands was resting on the small of Mai's back, the other clutching her hand.

"We're ending this," said Naru, eyes hard. "Today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Comments? Kudos?


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! Here we are at the end. Thank you to all readers so far and, for the last time, comments? Kudos?

The team sat in silence, all eyes focused on Naru as they waited for him to formulate a plan. The young boss however, was going through his notes, summarizing what they knew so far.

Their client Hideki Kiyoshi was really Yaoshima Akira. He was Mai's biological father. He had two more children: Ryou and May. The latter was Mai's twin sister, and the former was four years older than them.

For some reason, Jack Midnight, who had come from overseas a handful of years before, was living with the Yaoshima family. During this time, likely because of the inability to control her powers, May accidentally killed Jack. Mai took the blame for this. Jack's spirit very likely heard this and, not realizing she was merely covering for her sister, wishes for revenge against Mai. All of this happened when the twins were three.

Soon after, Akira, possessed by Jack, began attacking the family. Mai, harmed far worse than the others, was in the hospital for some time. Despite Jack leaving his body, Akira wasn't the same any more, and ended up divorcing his wife-the children, all three of them, remaining with their mother.

The mother remarried, and the Yaoshima children became the Taniyama children. This was also when three siblings became four, because Taniyama-san had adopted Konata Shin, who had been living in an orphanage his entire life.

Soon after, Akira, possessed again, kidnapped Mai. Shin rescued her, but ended up getting shot and killed in the process. He was sixteen and Mai was four.

Just a few months later, Jack possessed Akira again, went to the university, and killed Taniyama-san, who was a professor there, along with eight year old Ryou, who had accompanied his step-father that day. The twins and their mother found out about this within hours. The killer was never found, which is why he went on with his life.

Three years later, Jack, once again, took over Akira's body, and this time, killed Taniyama-san's brother-Suzaku-san. This, for some reason appeared to be a suicide. Why he was killed, no one knew, but perhaps Suzaku had some suspicions about the situation. It was hard to say.

Another three years passed. For the fourth time, Jack possessed Akira. This time, he killed Mai's mother and ten year old twin sister-May. Mai, who was at school at the time, was spared from this.

Jack's spirit remained with Akira all these years. Shin, Ryou, May, and Suzaku were all here too. Jack however, has devoured the spirits of the latter three. He powered himself up and was not only able to communicate with them, but kill Akira as well. They couldn't say why he did this, but doubted Mai's father had moved on.

"This house," said Naru suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him, "currently has three spirits within: Konata Shin, Yaoshima Akira-known as Hideki Kiyoshi, and Jack Midnight."

"Meaning two positive spirits and one negative," said Ayako.

"One very powerful negative spirit," John emphasized. "Being able to communicate with us is one thing, but having the strength to do what he did to Akira-san," his eyes flickered to Mai, "does not bode well for us."

Naru inclined his head, acknowledging those words. "But this also means that the only entity we need to worry about is Jack. Akira-san and Shin-san will likely aid us through this, departing this plane when they feel Mai will be safe."

Mai blinked. "So, dad and Shin-nii won't move on until Jack's gone?"

"I assume so, yes."

"So what do we do then, boss?" asked Yasuhara rather seriously.

Naru brought his fingers up to his chin in thought, while the others exchanged glances, no one speaking. Mai could feel more than one in the group glancing at her every other moment, but she ignored it. She was trying to think of what to do too. This entire case revolved around her, and she'd be damned if she had to just sit there and do nothing.

Mai wasn't an idiot. She knew how likely it was that Naru would tell her to stay out of their way while they dealt with Jack. But they weren't the ones who he'd been hurting. They weren't the ones he'd been trying to kill for-how many years now?

And then Mai blinked. "Lure him out."

"Pardon me?"

Mai looked up at the others, all of who were staring at her in confusion. "Jack. Lure him out," she clarified, watching the others trade looks.

Naru turned to her. "And how do you propose we do that?" he said with a raised brow.

Mai returned the look, raising a brow of her own. "How do you think, genius?"

Well, someone was channeling their older brother. Naru recalled Ryou speaking to him in much the same way. His young assistant didn't know that though, seeing as she had been possessed at the time. "Mai."

"Do I seriously have to clarify?" she said incredulously.

"Mai."

"Use me as bait." There were many cries of indignation, which she chose to ignore, instead focusing on her boss' blue eyes. "Why are you so appalled by that, Naru?"

"It's too dangerous!" he all but hissed in response.

"Aren't most cases?" she retorted rather calmly. "You've never hesitated about using me as bait before, whether I knew about it or not. What makes this case so special? Besides, using me would lead to the fastest result."

"No."

"She has a point, Naru-bou."

Naru immediately whipped around, glaring at the monk. "No."

Bou-san rolled his eyes at the immediate refusal. "Regardless of whether we do it or not, Mai's right." He dragged his fingers through his hair. "Jack's obviously after her. Has he even done anything to the rest of us?"

No, he hadn't. Yet, despite knowing that answer- "No."

"We should do as Mai-san and Takigawa-san are suggesting."

"No, Lin. I refuse."

"Noll."

"No."

Mai huffed. "You're being way too stubborn about this, Naru."

"I will not risk you, Mai," snapped Naru impatiently.

Mai blinked. "Naru..." She sighed. While she was very pleased he was so concerned for her, all his refusal was doing was hindering the case. Using her was the best way to attract Jack's attention, among being the only surefire thing they could do in the first place. The easiest as well.

What if nothing else worked and Jack ended up following her or something? What uf it ended up putting Keiko and Michiru at risk? It was clear he wasn't going to rest without getting his revenge on her. If they didn't do something as quick as possible, there was a chance he could possess someone on their team and attack her that way. And in Mai's opinion, that was definitely _worse_ than merely using her as bait. At least this way they would have a chance to prepare and gain the upperhand.

She tried to explain this to Naru-explain the logic, but still, he refused to listen. In fact, the more she tried to convince him, the more vehemently he refused.

"No, Mai. There is no way I will agree to this, regardless of what anyone here says."

Mai sighed in irritation, and then her eyes lit up as she was struck with a bolt of inspiration. Pulling out her cell, she got to her feet and made to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Naru demanded to know immediately.

Mai looked at him innocently from over her shoulder. "To call Madoka. I figured we should fill her in on what's been going on. You know how she gets when she's kept in the dark for too long, and she may have had to leave, but that doesn't mean she can't or won't come back. I mean, do you really want her to come barging in here and messing up your plan?" She kept her voice sweet as she spoke.

Naru all but paled and Lin quickly turned his head, as if to hide a smile. Bou-san didn't bother doing the same, and started chuckling, while Yasuhara snickered.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Naru scowled. "Fine, Mai. You win."

"Oh, goodie." Mai pocketed her cell and sauntered back to her seat, earning her another scowl, which she countered with a bright grin.

Even if they did use Mai as bait, they still required a plan, thought Naru. And while he was still firmly against putting Mai in danger, he knew it was the best, and perhaps, only way to finish this. But how?

They easily could leave Mai in a room alone, and have her call Jack out, but what exactly would they do if he came out? How would they get rid of him? Move him on?

Frowning, Naru rubbed his chin in thought. He needed more tea...

* * *

It was a few minutes later that Naru and Mai found themselves in the kitchen. The former was leaning against the counter, watching as the latter of the two made tea.

Mai was expressionless, and seemed to be moving on auto-pilot, which had Naru frowning and sighing again. He couldn't really blame her. In fact, he felt horrible about it. How had this case taken such a drastic turn? That their client, who they were supposed to have been protecting, had been killed?

"...Naru? Are you okay?"

The soft voice drew Naru out of his stupor, and he looked down at Mai, who was peering up at him in concern. Expression softening, Naru couldn't help but gently run his fingers through her hair. "I'm fine, Mai. Just thinking."

She smiled slightly, looked a little amused. "When are you _not_ thinking?"

He scowled. "Quiet, you. Have you finished making tea yet?"

"I finished five minutes ago. Your cup's by your elbow." The amusement was back.

Blinking, Naru glanced over, only to see that a full cup was indeed resting on the pristine counter. He reached for it immediately, and sipped, enjoying the burn of the hot liquid as it flowed down his throat. His eyes fell shut as he savoured the taste and allowed his mind to wander back to thoughts of their case.

Mai didn't move, and neither did she say anything. Though Naru looked peaceful enough, Mai had spent enough time around him to know that wasn't true at all. He was thinking. Thinking hard. And she didn't want to interrupt that train of thought, least of all during such an integral moment in their investigation.

Naru's eyes shot open. "That's it!"

Mai, who had been standing there, watching her boss in curiosity, jolted back in surprise at the sudden exclamation, tea nearly sloshing over the rim of her cup. "Uh, Naru?"

He grabbed her hand, blue eyes all but shining. "Back to the Base," he ordered.

Mai blinked and set down her teacup. "Er-okay...?"

As soon as the two rejoined the others, Lin swivelled around in his chair. He took one look at Naru, then said- "You have a plan, Noll." It was more of a statement than it was a question.

Naru sat down, waited for Mai to do the same, and it was only once he had determined he had everyone's undivided attention that he began to speak.

"From what little we know about him, Jack Midnight was a good man in life. It was only in death that he began wreaking havoc and ruining lives-Mai's in particular."

Many exchanged glances, but no one actually said anything, eager to know what Naru was thinking. It was not, after all, often that he bothered explaining things to them, usually waiting until they had solved the case before doing so. This was certainly a welcome change.

"Now, how did Jack die?"

"No one knows for sure," said Yasuhara, checking his notes quickly. "Even his death certificate says the cause isn't determined."

"He was killed with abilities authorities would have had a hard time noticing," said Naru. "Abilities May, Mai's twin sister had. May killed Jack. Mai took the blame. Jack is only aware of the latter."

Bou-san frowned, running long fingers through his hair. "So he's pissed at Mai for killing him, and wants revenge."

" _May_ killed Jack."

Mai's eyes widened and her hand automatically came up to cover her mouth when she gasped, struck by a sudden revelation. "Jack's been after the wrong person this whole time!"

"...What?" Ayako looked quite lost.

"I never did anything!" Mai exclaimed. "May was the one to kill him-accidentally, of course, and I, being the protective twin that I was, took the blame for doing it. We were only three years old, it wasn't really like we knew any better."

"And Jack," said Naru, "who was either dying or already a spirit, never knew what happened. All he heard was Mai taking the blame for his death and, furious, immediately began plotting to take his revenge on her."

"But Mai's innocent!" It was Bou-san's turn to figure things out next. "Jack should have been exacting his revenge on May not Mai!"

"But he killed May-san," said John, "and devoured her spirit."

Mai jumped to her feet and turned to face her boss. "So, technically, Jack already _has_ gotten his revenge, hasn't he? May killed Jack, and Jack, through a possession, killed May."

Naru inclined his head. "He has gotten his revenge. The problem is, he doesn't know this. He's still under the impression that you, Mai, were the one to take his life."

Mai frowned and slowly sank back down into her seat. "So...do we just call him out and tell him this?" she said.

Taking a sip from the cup he had brought with him from the kitchen, Naru smirked. "Yes, actually. That is exactly what we are going to do."

"...Huh?"

"You, Mai, are going to go into the sitting room."

"Alone?"

"Strictly speaking, no. I believe Shin-san and Akira-san will both be with you throughout." He took another sip of tea. "The rest of us, while remaining nearby, will stay outside the room. Bou-san, John, Lin, and Matsuzaki-san should all be prepared to act, should something go wrong. And you will call Jack out, Mai, and tell him exactly what he needs to know. If all goes well, we should be done before nightfall."

Everyone but Mai nodded, though a couple of them did seem slightly hesitant. Mai understood why. She wasn't exactly sure how to feel about confronting Jack herself, even though using herself as bait had initially been her own idea...

* * *

Two hours and many preparations later, Mai found herself standing in the middle of her father's living room. She was alone.

Naru and Yasuhara were in the Base, watching the proceedings over a monitor, while Bou-san, Ayako, Lin, and John all stood just outside the two entrances to the room Mai was in, poised to jump in should the need arise.

Mai stood, fighting not to tremble in her nervousness. But she knew she had to do this-that this had to be done. This was the only way.

And then she felt a sudden warmth on either side of her, and she smiled. "Hello, dad, Shin-nii." She looked to her left, and then her right.

Akira and Shin were standing beside her, one on each side, both giving off a strange, light blue glow. Both looked at her and smiled gently, as if attempting to comfort her.

"You're doing the right thing, sweetheart," said Akira.

"We'll be here until the end," said Shin.

Mai, feeling much calmer, nodded. "Thank you." She took a deep breath, building her courage. "Jack Midnight-san, please come out!" she called in a firm tone, trying to make sure her voice didn't start to shake.

For a moment nothing happened, and she debated on whether or not she should call out again, feeling just a little bit awkward, anticipation building once more.

"Just wait," instructed Akira.

"He'll come," said Shin.

Both sounded firm and confident, and when Mai glanced at them, they were looking straight ahead, completely focused. She did the same, and waited.

Sure enough, mere seconds later, something began to materialize on the other side of the room, right across her. Only a large table stood between Mai and Jack.

His features weren't really all that discernible. She could tell that he had dark hair, eyes, and clothes. And unlike Akira and Shin, seemed to be giving off an eerie red glow.

Mai was nervous again, just at the sight of him-of this man who had killed her uncle, father, step-father, mother, brother, sister, and adoptive brother-the man who had hurt her. He had made her suffer so much but, oddly enough, hadn't she already forgiven him so many years ago?

A low growl pulled the girl out of her thoughts, and she quickly refocused, aware Naru would have been yelling at her lack of concentration if he'd been in the room with her.

She felt, rather than saw Akira and Shin move closer to her. At the same moment, Jack took a step forward, lips pulling back in a snarl. His intentions were obvious.

"Wait, Jack! Please listen! There's something you really need to know!"

The dark entity merely growled again, taking another step closer. A sudden oppressiveness filled the room, and Mai felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Keep trying, Mai!"

"Don't stop!"

Her father and brother clearly knew what they were talking about, so Mai did just that. "Please, Jack! You need to hear this!" she cried. "I know your death was sudden and unexpected, and I know you're really angry about it!"

"Revenge... Revenge...! REVENGE!" Each yell got louder, and every slow footstep forward made the entire room shake, knocking little knick-knacks off the mounted shelves.

Mai cringed and gasped, her ears ringing painfully. It hurt...it hurt...

"Easy, sweetheart. Easy."

"You can do this, Mai. Keep going!"

She swallowed hard, fists clenching. "I never hurt you, Jack! I never did a thing!"

The ringing got louder, the oppressiveness worse, and with another low, guttural growl, Jack got ever closer.

"Tell him, Mai!"

"I didn't kill you! My sister did!"

Though the growling continued, Jack paused in place.

Realizing this was her chance, Mai went on. "May killed you, Jack! Don't you remember? I wasn't even _there_ when it happened! I'd run off to get our ball!"

Amongst more growls, came the words- "You, said-"

"I know I said I was the one who did it, but I lied! I lied to protect my twin sister!"

"Revenge..."

Akira moved, situating himself behind his daughter. "Almost there, Mai!"

She took another deep breath, even as her knees shook. "You already got your revenge! You killed May and you even devoured her spirit! You killed her and she's paid for what she did!" Gods, it was so hard to talk about her sister like this.

But now the growling stopped too, and Jack made a noise that sounded almost...questioning. The crimson glow around him faded just a little, and for a brief second, the man's real appearance flickered through. It was working.

Mai lowered her voice a little, though kept her tone firm and convincing. "You wanted revenge on the one who killed you, right? What can be worse than not just death, but your very soul ceasing to exist? That's what happened to May. That's what you did. That's how you exacted your revenge!"

Everything suddenly stopped shaking, and the ringing faded away. The red glow all but gone, Jack stood there, staring at Mai, looking exactly the same as she remembered as a child.

"I didn't want to die. I didn't deserve death."

Mai couldn't stop the sympathy that bled through. "May never meant for any of that to happen," she said softly. "She didn't know how to control her abilities-we were only three years old. It was an accident, Jack. A really, really unfortunate accident."

Jack looked...sad. "I have my revenge." It was almost a statement.

"You do. May caused your death, and she no longer exists."

Everything was going fine, and then there was a bang-the sound so loud it made the entire house shake. Jack released a scream. A loud, piercing, evil sounding scream that had Mai jolting back in surprise, lowered guard abruptly snapping back up.

The humanity in Jack's eyes vanished, the red glow returning, stronger than ever, and he screamed again. "REVENGE!"

"Ah!" Mai cried out in shock as the dark entity started on her violently. Recoiling, she backed away, able to hear the others-her friends, banging on the doors that had slammed shut.

What was going on!? What had gone wrong!?

"No!" yelled Akira suddenly. "I refuse to allow you to harm my daughter again! Shin!"

"Hai!"

The two good spirits were suddenly on the other side of the table, both grabbing hold of Jack, who was still screaming and snarling, fighting viciously in an attempt to break away from them.

"No! Dad, Shin-nii, wait!" Mai pushed herself forward, arm outstretched. "No!"

There was a flash of light so bright that Mai had to raise a hand to shield her eyes. And then there was silence. No yelling, snarling, banging, or knocking. Nothing at all.

Slowly, Mai lowered her arm and opened her eyes. The room was a mess, but all sense of oppressiveness was gone from the air. Sunlight streamed in from the open window, and it was like breathing freely again for the first time in a long, long while.

Akira, Shin, and Jack were gone, and Mai was once more alone.

And as the doors flew open, and her friends rushed in, Mai slowly fell to her knees. It was a familiar set of blue eyes that drew her out of her shocked stupor, black clad arms embracing her tightly.

"...Naru."

"It's over, Mai. You're free."

"Free..." she echoed, realizing that what she was feeling was relief.

Jack was finally gone, finally done haunting and hunting her. He was gone, and was never coming back. Her family would make sure of it.

* * *

After a brief rest, the team began packing up, all of them eager to leave the house where so many painful things had been dragged up.

"Mai, tea!"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Hai, hai." She passed the monitor she'd been holding over to John, who smiled at her gently.

Returning it, Mai headed over to the kitchen, absently wondering what was going to happen to the house now that its owner, her father, was dead. She paused in place when she found her boss standing in the middle of the room. "Naru? What's up?"

"Come here."

Mai blinked but did as told, approaching him. She'd only just opened her mouth to speak when Naru cupped her cheek with one hand, tangled his fingers into her hair with the other, and pulled her into a kiss so intense that it had her knees buckling in mere seconds.

Moaning, Mai grabbed hold of Naru shirt, but just as quickly as he had started the kiss, Naru released her and stepped back, a smirk on his face while Mai made a sound of disappointment.

"Naaaaruuuu!" she whined.

His smirk grew, and he tapped her on the nose. "I want that tea, Mai." And he started to walk away.

Mai stared at him in shock, mind slowly processing what had just happened.

The rest of SPR, still packing equipment in the Base, all suddenly heard a very loud, very irritated, and very familiar scream.

"Naru! You stupid, narcissistic, tea addict jerk!"

Oh yes, Taniyama Mai was most definitely free.

_FIN_


End file.
